Juxtaposition
by paws-bells
Summary: ItaSaku Fate works in strange ways. It was a stroke of pure, dumb luck that she had managed to outwit him. Now she was going to experience first hand just how it would feel to have his undivided attention, whether she wants it or not.
1. Chapter 1

**Juxtaposition**

**Chapter 1**

In her twenty years of existence on this mortal plane, there were many things that Sakura understood.

She understood that having a big forehead wasn't as bad as it had seemed when she was twelve, especially when you need all the smarts you have in order to survive being the genius disciple of the Godaime.

She understood that failure is the mother of success, and had learnt that as long as one worked hard and refused to give up, one would reach the top as head ANBU medic just like she had at the age of eighteen.

But as much as she believed in the value of determination, she also understood that there were just some things in the world that you cannot have no matter how much you want it. She had learnt that lesson the hard way at the age of thirteen, when she had her young heart broken and her innocent rose-tinted view of the world shattered.

She understood that same age that the gift of friends are the rarest of jewels in life yet so sorely overlooked, and she swore never to do so again.

She understood that life would always go on and that time would stop for no one, not even for the misguided souls who had chosen to walk down the wrong path.

Indeed, Sakura had grown up very nicely, not only in form, but mentally as well. She exuded a subtle beauty that was unique in her own way, and made even more alluring by her long, confident gait and sunny nature. She had learnt to put herself in the shoes of others, and to empathize and never do anything rash that would hurt those of whom she cherishes and loves.

There were many things left unsaid that the pink-haired kunoichi could now comprehend and take in stride, just like that scouting mission in Kirigakure that Tsunade had sent her ANBU team on two days ago. She hadn't been surprised actually, had already expected something like that when they ran across the lone Akatsuki. Harsh exchanges had been delivered from one side only to be easily rebutted by cool, detached answers. Then they fought, the powerful S-class missing-nin against her team of four, and Sakura had been proud that they had managed to hold their own against the Akatsuki.

The Konoha ANBU had retreated soon after, and Sakura with them. She had been bringing up the rear of the group, frantically avoiding the flashing red orbs of the Sharingan while desperately jumping from tree to tree in a bid to lengthen the distance between herself and the relentless pursuer but to no avail. He caught up easily with her, and should have been able to rip her apart with no problem at all but it was as if he were holding back, much to Sakura's growing confusion.

As crazy as it seemed, it quickly felt as if the Akatsuki were not trying to harm her team, but more like…expecting something from her.

Sakura didn't know what the hell was going on, but she was sure of one thing, what he wanted she sure as certain was not going to give it to him. Not without a fight, at least.

She had lost sight of her team awhile ago so it hadn't been surprising at the least when she started to move off in a direction all by herself, hoping to shake off the mssing-nin before rounding back to meet with her group. Her plan had been a little too successful though, when she had ran out of forests to hide in and gradually found herself cornered at the edge of a tall, remote cliff, between a gaping, seemingly bottomless pit and-

Uchiha Itachi.

It hadn't been hard to identify the Uchiha heir; the swirling Sharingan that had resembled twin pools of crimson blood, stark and emotionless, not to mention that bittersweet almost-familiar onyx hair and sleek muscular build had told her without fail that this was the male that had mercilessly massacred his entire clan all within the span of one night.

"Are you Haruno Sakura?"

His voice was deep and rich, and would have gave Sakura a sense of utter security had she not know what he was capable of. Belatedly she wondered how on earth someone with a voice like that could do all the atrocious things that she had seen the Akatsuki take credit for.

Sakura kept her gaze resolutely on the ground before her, but nodded in mute response. She wasn't stupid; and testing the patience of a known psychotic killer would definitely border somewhere near insanity. The pink-haired kunoichi racked her head for a way out of this situation, all the while thinking up and discarding the Uchiha's possible motives for not killing her yet.

Then she remembered the strain the Sharingan had inflicted on Kakashi-sensei's body, and her eyes widened imperceptibly. The reason became all too clear. By then he had moved so silently to stop before her that she hadn't noticed his movement until his booted feet came into her peripheral vision. She stiffened in a way not unlike a frightened deer in the presence of a deadly predator.

Sakura prayed hard that her deductions for his agenda for trapping her thusly was correct, then lifted her head quickly to look him hard in the eyes.

She regretted it the moment he locked down her wide-eyed stare with his blank ones, and even though he hadn't used any genjutsu on her she could feel the cold, precise power roiling off him in thick, heavy waves. She could not look away now that he had her in his gaze, and Sakura had to work hard not to shudder in fear. His sheer power might be intimidating to others, but it was the fact that it was so _tainted_ that made her cringe slightly away from him.

In the quest for supremacy, nothing was sacred anymore.

The blood of the best friend.

The blood of family.

Tainted.

Blood red.

So this was how the eyes of a demon looked like.

Brutal.

Merciless.

Remorseless.

And apparently, soon to be blind.

"I know what you want." Sakura's voice was surprisingly steady, her eyes calm. Itachi continued to look at her with inscrutable eyes, clearly waiting for her to continue. Emerald eyes gleamed.

"I'm not going to help you."

Sakura stood quietly before the taller male, the look on her face serene and accepting. They both knew that she was aware of the unimaginable things that he could inflict on her, tortures that would make the eventual onset of death seem like a blessing, but there she was, one moment very afraid of what he could do, and the next shedding her fears like a heavy cloak to stand by her decision with unwavering determination.

Reluctantly, he had to admit that her absolute refusal amused….and fascinated him.

_Such childish naiveté in a grown woman…_

His name was known far and wide across the five countries, and not many had dared to refuse him what he wanted…and then lived to tell the tale. He wondered what made her think that she was so special.

"Oh?" He asked softly, his gaze darkly amused. "What makes you think that you have a choice?"

Then he illustrated his point, and a momentarily stunned Sakura watched as she moved forward against her will to stop nary an inch away from him, then started to flush as her arms rose on their own accord to snake around his neck in an extremely intimate fashion not unlike what a lover would do. Itachi did not move a muscle, and Sakura's emerald eyes started to flash with pure outrage when she felt herself tiptoe towards the male currently watching her with that cool, dispassionate gaze.

There was nothing she could do to stop what she knew would come next, and try as she might she could not even open her mouth to demand that he stop whatever that he was doing. All she could do, however, was what Itachi wanted her to do, and Sakura knew that he was without doubt trying to intimidate her into submission, and that made her even angrier.

She stared straight into those Sharingan eyes as he got her to inch painstakingly slowly towards him, her eyes showing her increasing fury and helplessness. He reveled in that look on her face, reveled in the discomfort that he had wrought in her, and the sardonic look in his eyes told her so. She stiffened and tried one last attempt to pull herself from his control, straining hard against the restraints that he had put in her mind, ignoring the intense flashes of pain that occurred as she did so. Come on, there wasn't much time left-

Then their lips touched.

Sakura's mind went blank.

It was true that Itachi was controlling her movements like an expert puppet master, but her senses, her feelings were all still hers to experience, and right now, everything was going haywire- and going straight to hell.

It shouldn't even be counted as a kiss, for she hadn't been the least bit willing in the first place and it was only the mildest contact of lips. In fact, it could have easily passed for an innocent exchange. Almost.

Sakura's emerald eyes widened with shock at the spark of…something that skittered up and down her spine at the unwanted kiss. She was still stuck in the position, still pressed intimately against him, feeling his cool lips and surprisingly smooth texture acutely and…

Sakura's eyes rounded with horrified shock. Goddamn it, this is not happening!

She was _not_ getting turned on by this weird situation!

Utterly mortified, Sakura's eyes flew straight to the male who was the cause of all her confusion. Sakura's humiliation deepened when she saw that knowing look in his calm eyes, and there was _nothing_ she could do about it. It had to be all his doing, the pink-haired kunoichi tried to convince herself. He had to be the one evoking those artificial reactions from her, for the alternative was simply too unbearable to think about.

If Itachi had set out wanting to prove his point without doubt as to who the control belongs to, he had succeeded beyond his wildest dreams. Sakura clenched her eyes shut in seeming defeat.

It was apparently enough for the Akatsuki, for within moments Sakura found herself being lowered to stand solidly onto the ground once more. She still had her arms wrapped around Itachi's neck, and she was now pressed so close to him that they were literally plastered together from chest to thigh. Sakura turned tomato-red.

He forced her to open her eyes to look at him. Sakura gritted her teeth at the look of muted triumph in his red eyes.

"Now that we have established your position…" The red eyes sharpened dangerously, turned cold as they pierced into her very soul with pure mercenary intent. Sakura shuddered inwardly.

"Will you do it?"

It was a good question, and one Sakura readily had the answer for.

She smiled at him, the gesture genuine and startlingly innocent.

"I pity you, Itachi." Sakura's voice was soft and sad. "You have thrown away everything important in life for something that only you deem worthy. You are so blinded by the taste of power that you have tossed aside even your humanity."

Then her melancholy emerald eyes focused intensely on him, turned just as dispassionate as his had been.

"This is why I will never help the likes of you, Uchiha Itachi. _You are a monster_."

Before the Akatsuki could react to the frankly-delivered words, Sakura dropped her arms simply from his neck and took one step back.

Crimson Sharingan eyes widened almost imperceptibly at the telling action.

_She could have broken away from his mental hold from the start. _

"Goodbye, Itachi." The pink-haired kunoichi smiled gently at him once more, her emerald eyes clear and her pretty features tranquil and disturbingly peaceful. "I hope we won't see each other again; I don't think we ever will."

Then right before his very eyes she took another unfaltering step back, and dropped into pits of hell.

* * *

Sakura knew that what she was doing was literally committing suicide. She had no idea at all how high the cliff was and there was no way for her to anticipate the time near impact for her to create a cushion of chakra that would soften what she was definitely sure would be a deadly impact.

But that didn't mean that Sakura was about to give up just yet.

She was intelligent. She didn't have a big forehead for nothing. She was determined to survive this fall. The consequences of her failure were unacceptable. She had remembered how it had nearly killed her when Sasuke had defected over to Orochimaru; the sense of lost had crippled her for weeks. There was no way she was going to let that happened to those who had cared about her.

She must not die.

Long strands of pink hair slapped violently against her face due to the great rush of air borne from gravity, and Sakura pushed them away even as her mind and eyes worked together, taking in the speeding-by surroundings around her with analytical precision as her brain threw out theoretical and practical solutions at quickly as possible.

'_You are really going to die, you know?' _

Inner Sakura spoke dryly for that first time that day. Sakura frowned. She didn't really have the time to entertain her alter ego at the moment.

'We will live. Just be quiet for awhile and let me figure out how to keep us from becoming pancakes at the bottom of this valley.'

Inner Sakura laughed. '_Who said that I was talking about that? Look above you, my dear._'

Eyes having gone unfocused in deep contemplation for all of the five seconds that she had been falling, Sakura shook her head and looked up above her to the skies-

Just in time to feel the collision of a body slamming into hers. Her eyes widened and stared straight into furious red orbs but an inch away. Belatedly Sakura realized what her inner self have been babbling about now.

_He_ had followed after her.

Sakura's breath hitched painfully when he pulled her close to him in mid fall, and the gesture would have appeared almost protective had she not seen the look of utter malevolence on Itachi's face. Sakura started to experience the bitter taste of fear.

The Uchiha didn't come to save her of course; he came for the satisfaction of killing her before gravity could do its job.

'Kami, he's going to finish me off now…'

Sakura screwed her eyes shut.

"You think that you have everything sorted out, don't you?"

His voice was soft, and lacked the anger that she had expected. Her eyes burst open to stare at him with confusion, and the powerful Sharingan reeled her in immediately.

"_Foolish little girl, you don't know anything_."

* * *

_::tsuzuku::_


	2. Chapter 2

**Juxtaposition**

**Chapter 2**

It was the dull, insistent throbbing at the back of her head that had forced her back to consciousness.

Sakura emitted a little whimper as she opened her eyes. Light rushed into her sensitive retinas and blared a rude screech of pain to her brain. It was as if there were five mini anvil-wielding Narutos let loosed in her head, cackling evilly as they rampaged through her skull. Good god, what had she done to deserve this?

The recollection of what had happened prior to her unconscious state rushed back to her in the blink of an eye.

Forest.

Trees.

Cliff.

Akatsuki.

Sharingan.

Falling. Falling. Falling.

Unfocused emerald eyes widened. Uncaring of the discomfort her head was causing her Sakura jackknifed to a sitting position. The kunoichi winced inwardly as her sight wavered for a precarious second, then held. She quickly took in her surroundings. It was nighttime, she was in a darkened cave, and there was a small fire in the center accounting for the orange glow that flickered on the walls of the cavern. She had been lying in the deepest corner of the little rock formation and as she looked across the fire-

Crimson.

Sakura stiffened. She could not look away. Immediately the image of him coming towards her flashed across her mind like liquid quicksilver. The flare of those Sharingan eyes, the dark abyss that swallowed them both-

_He_ had saved her.

Sakura's surprise was quickly dampened by his motives. 'Of course,' the pink-haired medic-nin thought sourly, 'he has to keep me alive so as to benefit him.' Sakura's mood became even worst as she contemplated her predicament. Great, now she was indebted to Uchiha Itachi. This day was just getting better and better.

Sakura continued staring at the dangerous S-class missing-nin across the fire. He hadn't blinked at all since her eyes met his, but Sakura was not interested in challenging the Akatsuki in a game of 'who can outstare each other the longest'. She had other things to worry about and had no intention of trying to engage him in a pissing contest. Sakura was relieved when she easily slid her gaze from his, and even she knew that her success was because he had allowed the action. A small part of her was angered by the notion, but the more 'life-loving' part of her shut her up. To put in simple terms, those Sharingan orbs disconcerted her.

Still keeping her guard up, the kunoichi quickly checked her body statistics. Her ANBU uniform was in place, her chakra level was normal, there were some bruises and cuts from the chase in the forest, and her head still hurt. Other than that there were no injuries on her body and Sakura marveled over the small miracle. She had just fallen off a cliff of indeterminate height and she didn't even have a scratch to show for it! It was highly ironic to her that a known sociopath like Itachi could be so successful at saving lives. She didn't know how he had managed to do it, but her lack of injuries quickly impressed upon Sakura just how good Itachi was in this type of perilous situations.

'Remind me never to drop him off a cliff if I ever have to kill him.' Sakura's morbid sense of humor chose the worst time to present itself, and the kunoichi winced inwardly.

The fine hair at the back of Sakura's nape stood up eerily then. She hadn't forgotten the presence of the Uchiha of course, nor had she been stupid enough to dismiss it. It wasn't possible for her to do so anyways. There was something about the dangerous male that made it very hard to overlook his presence. His aura expanded and filled up the entire cave; it was impossible not to feel the cold darkness, not to mention the quiet hostility that was his signature chakra. Warily, Sakura eyed the male once more. He was sitting in a deceptively casual manner, leaning against the cave wall with one long leg bent and the other stretched to its full length. An arm was draped almost lazily on his bent knee and he looked thoroughly relaxed if not for the slight tenseness of his shoulders the belied his entire posture.

Unbeknownst to Sakura, she stiffened her spine as well as she concentrated her full attention on the Akatsuki. Uchiha Itachi was a lone wolf, feral and deadly. It would do her well to have all her wits around her if she even hoped to survive this encounter with him.

Sakura licked her dry lips and eyed the Akatsuki cautiously. He showed no indication of speaking first, merely continued staring at her as if she was some sort of insignificant insect that had dared to crawl too near him. Once again Sakura winced inwardly at her horrible euphemism. _Insects that got in the way get squashed in the end. _

The eerie feeling increased twofold, and Sakura shivered.

It really was a good thing that she had no intention of suffering that same fate. Sakura might be feeling a little (okay, very) scared of the situation that she had found herself in at the moment, but she was never one to go down without a fight. Even if Uchiha was to kill her tonight, she was damn well going to make sure that he remembered her forever as the one who gave him a god awful headache before he had to snuff out her pathetic existence.

'_Yeah,_' Inner Sakura chose the moment to speak up. '_We can't have our dear fox brother Naruto coming up to him to avenge our deaths only for him to go "Sakura who?" right?_'

Sakura could not help it; she let out a little bubble of laughter at her alter ego's sarcasm. It must be the stress talking, but her mirth did relax her painfully tensed up form. It attracted the intense scrutiny of the Uchiha though, so Sakura didn't know if that was a good or a bad thing. The sounds of her chuckles died away slowly but there was a more determined light in her emerald eyes now, as compared to the weary and slightly anxious one earlier.

'I'm a Konoha kunoichi. I'm not going to let someone like him take away my dignity.'

'_Damn straight_!' Inner Sakura hissed fiercely. It was at moments like these that Sakura felt absolutely thankful for the presence of her inner self. She would never be left alone to face her fears.

Quickly prioritizing the list of things that she needed to do, Sakura ran a hand across the side of her head casually, and a brief flare of chakra swept away her pounding headache. The rest of the wounds on her body were too minor for her to waste her energy on and so Sakura easily dismissed them. Next to assume a less helpless posture; sitting sprawled on the ground was hardly intimidating, and Sakura was no Itachi, whom she was starting to secretly suspect would look scary even if he was dressed in nothing but diapers and a baby bib. Inner Sakura helpfully provided a mental image, and Sakura could not help but cough to muffle a soft grunt of amusement.

That's it; she must be going crazy. Why else would she be merrily chortling away in the presence of an S-class psychopath? Slowly though, her amusement faded and Sakura took to her feet unsteadily. Itachi continued staring coolly at her, not the least worried that she would take the chance to run out into the darkness. That would have been a stupid thing to do, not to mention futile.

Sakura composed herself and met his eyes fearlessly.

"What do you want from me, Itachi?"

He looked at her expressionlessly. There was no need to speak. They both knew what he wanted.

Emerald eyes narrowed slightly, but Sakura forced herself to relax. Running her mouth off before Itachi would be a reckless and dangerous thing to do. She needed to keep a level head around this Akatsuki.

"Fine." Sakura pretended to misunderstand. The kunoichi knew that her next course of action would be utterly fruitless and a waste of time, but that did not stop her from doing it all the same. It irritated her that Itachi was being so apathetic, and a perverse part of her had wanted to provoke him into showing some semblance of reaction. Any reaction.

"I will just be on my way then, since you are expecting nothing from me. Thanks for jumping after me earlier."

With that casual statement, Sakura turned towards the cave entrance, fully prepared to sail out of the cavern with her head held high. She had barely taken two steps before he literally materialized before her, and she stumbled to a halt just in time to avoid running into him. Sakura had expected that he wouldn't let her go this easily of course, but had gravely miscalculated his patience. She took a hasty step back before correcting herself.

"What do you-"

With a speed that took her breath away, she quickly found herself slammed viciously against the rocky outcrops of the cave. Pain exploded in her head as she hit the wall hard and she hissed softly as the sharp rocks dug mercilessly into her spine. His hand was wrapped around her neck in a blasphemous parody of tenderness, and he held her a good two feet off the ground with just that one arm. Sakura gagged reflexively as he shut down her windpipe, and her own hands came up to claw his in a desperate bid for air. Emerald eyes blazed with hatred.

He looked dispassionately at her, hardly concerned by her look of defiance, not even reacting to the rivulets of blood that were starting to form from the vicious scratches that she had inflicted on him.

"Do not try my patience."

He did not bother to use his Sharingan on her, and dropped his hold on her just as quickly as it had happened. Sakura fell to the floor in a graceless heap, wheezing and coughing as she took in quick gasps of air. Emerald eyes flared with fury. Sakura closed her eyes and had to force herself to take deep breaths to calm herself down. Her eyes flew open with unrestrained anger the very next second. Inner Sakura howled for blood.

Just how the hell was she supposed to calm down?! That freaking bastard just tried to kill her!!

Wincing inwardly as her hurt spine protested against her movement, the pink-haired kunoichi forced herself to stand. Her hackles rose at the uncaring expression of the male standing before her, and at that moment all rational thoughts flew out the proverbial window. There was no longer an S-class missing-nin standing before her. There was no Akatsuki standing before her. There was no scion of the Uchiha clan. There was no Mangekyo Sharingan user.

There was just a mortal man who had had the gall to _hurt_ her!

Inner Sakura was in full agreement.

Before Sakura knew what she was doing, pure, undiluted chakra shot to her clenched fists. Already in a slightly defensive posture since she stood up it was easy to shift into an attacking stance when she threw the first punch. Unsurprisingly her first hit met air, but that had been what Sakura had been secretly praying for. She grinned a small feral grin at the expressionless male who had nimbly retreated a foot away from her reach, and barely glimpsed the slight narrowing of his crimson gaze when he finally caught on to what she was planning. He wouldn't be in time to stop her now though; she was very sure of that, for her fist was already in motion.

He tried anyway, and Sakura had to commend him for it. He caught hold of her deceptively fragile wrist just as her other chakra-infused hand easily smashed into the hard rock wall behind her like it was made of paper. Crimson orbs flashed as the rock formation started to groan under the powerful abuse. Immediately, hairline cracks formed from the huge gaping hole that her fist had been earlier, rapidly spreading out to the high ceiling like a deadly spider web. The low creak as the huge stone formation slowly disintegrating into large pieces of sharp jagged stones turned into a dull roar as the entire structure shook precariously on its very foundation. Fine particles of sand rained down upon them; it wouldn't be long before the deadly hail of stones would follow.

He could escape the avalanche of rocks unscathed if he exited now, but he wasn't leaving without her.

Sharingan eyes narrowed with barely concealed annoyance when she simply would not budge. Damned girl had used her immovable strength to thwart his attempt to drag her out of the collapsing cave. Overhead, fist-sized pieces of stones started to rain down upon them. Undaunted by what was sure to come next; she merely smiled smugly at him. It was obvious that this was what she had planned from the start. Leave without her, or stay and get buried under the deadly rubble of rocks; either way would mean that he had lost to her, and that simply _would not do_. His aura flared with agitation. Twice now she had effortlessly provoked his anger, something that was normally slow to ignite within him. It was dangerous, his surprisingly flimsy control of emotions around a small and insignificant kunoichi such as her.

It would be easy to save himself the grieve and let her die, but he needed her expertise in healing. Besides, she seemed to be doing a remarkable job trying to kill herself so far so as not to betray her beloved little village. He sneered inwardly at the thought. She was a determined little kunoichi, but she had sorely underestimated him.

He would not allow her to escape him this easily.

The rocks that fell from the ceiling were the size of dinner plates by now, and increasing in frequency. Her cocky little smile widened; she was so sure that he would leave her be now. There was simply no other way. Sharingan eyes flashed when once again she easily blocked his attempt to extract her from the dangerous cavern. By now, the roar of the crumbling rocks was deafening, and huge pieces of stone were falling all around them. It wouldn't take long before they were hit by one, but still that little smile remained fixed on her face. It was as if she didn't care whether she lived or died, so long as she rid herself of his presence.

He snarled at her obstinacy, a feral slash of lips and teeth.

How he yearned to snap her scrawny neck here and now, but maybe keeping her alive might just be as rewarding. Overhead, the rumble of rocks increased in sound and weight as they finally started to collapse into themselves.

He quickly made his decision.

Her stunning emerald orbs widened when she finally realized his intentions, and as he lunged at her the exact moment the cave started to implode a rush of triumph made its way into his system like a shot of pure adrenaline. He tackled her surprised form to the ground, whirling Sharingan eyes never leaving her distressed ones for a moment, openly savoring his victory against this annoyingly stubborn kunoichi.

_Foiled your attempt again, little girl.

* * *

_

Sakura had made a gross, _gross_ oversight.

She knew that Itachi was a known genius, but she wasn't stupid herself and her plan to lull him into believing that she was acting the instincts of a woman scared out of her wits and willing to try anything just for a chance to escape wasn't exactly unsuccessful. To a point, that is.

But then she just had to give away the game too early; and that was where she had made her stupidest mistake.

She had smiled.

So eager was she in anticipating his failure that she had let her glee show, and that had been her downfall. She had indirectly challenged him, and of course he had rose to accept it. Damn the competitive nature inherent to all Uchihas.

She should have known that even dangerous S-class missing-nins would not take kindly to foolish little kunoichis stomping all over their masculine pride.

Which was why she was now stuck in this utterly awkward position with huge chunks of rocks surrounding her at all angles. Deadly. Life threatening. Painful. She tried not to shift her weight as small pieces of sharp stones jabbed into her spine. She also tried her best to ignore the murderous aura flaring right above her.

It was all his fault that her relatively simple plan had fallen apart like a fragile house of cards.

Sakura had planned to mould her chakra into an impenetrable shield from the avalanche of falling rocks the moment he had left, of course. Her perfect chakra control would easily do what most others could not, and that would have saved her from the hail of stones that had been part of her strategy in escaping the Uchiha. What she hadn't predicted was that he would stay under the collapsing cave, tackling her to the ground and actually shielding her from the worst of the impact. It would have been utterly chivalrous of him if she wasn't privy to the fact that he was probably keeping her solely alive just so that he could kill her himself later.

The tumble of rocks had quieted down to a soft slither of sand by now, and a blanket of velvety darkness covered them like the gentle embrace of a lover. It wasn't dark enough though, for she could still see the crimson Sharingan but a few inches before her own eyes, swirling wildly with suppressed fury. Sakura pretended to ignore the deadly kekkei genkai, not to mention the lean masculine body poised over her in the most threatening manner.

This was not good. Not good at all.

She squeezed her eyes shut. Gods, please make her death quick and painless, for she knew that Uchiha Itachi definitely would not be as kind.

The wet slide of liquid against her belly and her thighs, had her quickly opening her eyes again and although she could see nothing other than for crimson Sharingan she could definitely smell the heavy scent of metallic. Copper.

Blood.

Emerald orbs widened as they flew to meet his eyes. There was not a trace of pain in those frozen depths. Anger…that was an entirely different story though. Belatedly Sakura thought that if he wasn't busy holding up the weight of an entire cave worth of rocks she would long be a goner by now, and with that realization came another more unwelcome one.

He was saving her life _again_.

This was as many as the second time in a single day, and even as logic told her that he was doing so only because he required her skills as a powerful medic-nin and that she wouldn't need any saving from him in the first place if he didn't come after her at all something twinge uncomfortably within Sakura's chest. Guilt.

She shouldn't have anything to feel guilty about. He didn't have to save her though; there were other medic-nins out there capable of healing his eyes. Oh, they would be rare of course, but not impossible to find. He could have watched her jump down the cliff the first time, and not move a muscle. He could have walked away from the collapsing cave, shrugged and went on his way to look for another more willing- and less troublesome medic. He didn't though, and for that Sakura felt that she owed him something.

_You are too tenderhearted, Sakura-chan_, her fox brother had chided playfully, _but that's what I like most about you._

Joining the ANBU two years ago as their head medic was supposed to temper that particular trait of hers, but it seemed to her now that it hadn't worked at all.

Borne from years of healing, it was an unconscious gesture when her hand crept up slowly to settle gently against a corded bicep of the male before her. The sleek muscle bunched under her touch. Narrowed crimson eyes regarded her intently, but Sakura was more interested in focusing minute amounts of her chakra to check for his injuries.

His back was badly strained from the weight of the rocks that he was forced to support, and one of the jagged stones had ripped into his right thigh, clipping his femoral artery. That explained the appalling amount of blood she could feel but not see; a ruptured femoral artery could cause death by sanguination in less than fifteen minutes, and he has _got_ to be in excruciating pain. Sakura found herself inwardly impressed by the Uchiha's immense willpower. She had seen patients who went out like a light just for a minor cut, but then there were those like him on the other end of the spectrum, who could continue to go on even when near fatally injured. It was purely mind over matter, and Sakura was starting to learn that Uchiha Itachi had a will like titanium. Unfortunately that didn't exempt him from the fact that he was going to bleed out soon if nothing was done to staunch the bleeding.

Sakura looked straight into the eyes of the proud Uchiha. Crimson Sharingan blazed down upon her. Her small hand on his bicep clenched slightly, as if demanding for assurance.

"I'm still not going to heal your eyes." Sakura spoke hesitantly, her earlier fire muted; turned to concern for the injured male above her. Akatsuki or not, he was still a human being made from flesh and bones and she had made a vow to save lives when she had first became a medic. She had no plans to break that sacred promise just because of him.

Itachi did not say anything; merely continued looking down at her.

Sakura took a deep breath.

She prayed that she hadn't made a mistake by doing what she was going to do next.

* * *

_::tsuzuku::_


	3. Chapter 3

**Juxtaposition**

**Chapter 3**

He wasn't surprised when he felt her chakra surround them both like the gentle embrace of a lover. She was the well-known disciple of the Godaime Hokage, and he had expected her chakra control to be exquisite and precise enough for her to manipulate it outside her body. He could feel her energy solidifying around them, her aura an intriguing mix of comforting warmth and steely strength. The vacuous force coming from within her took form and slowly but surely eased the crushing weight of the rocks off his back. She didn't make any hand seals to concentrate her chakra, and it told him without words just how powerful she was despite her misleading size.

He had grossly underestimated her, it seemed; erroneously thinking her capable only in the field of medicine. Apparently she was quite the strategist; playing on his psyche and first impression of her to her advantage and striking out with her amazing strength at the most importunate moments and at the most unexpected of places. He had almost let her slip from his grasp because of his carelessness, but he would not make such a mistake with her again.

It made him furious that he had almost fallen for her amateurish tricks. It would not happen again.

Sakura expanded her little shield gradually, pushing out with her strength and eventually creating a wide opening in the cave-in. The rubble was pushed up and aside until she could see clearly the starlit skies as well as the dark shadows of the trees beyond, and only then did she carefully withdraw her chakra back into her body. She peered worriedly at the male leaning over her. Itachi's jaw was clenched and perspiration beaded his brow. His eyes were shut and if she looked closely she could see fine trembling of his muscles as he resisted the effects of the extensive hemorrhage.

Now would be a good time to escape him, and he wouldn't even be able to do anything much to stop her. Sakura did not do that though; after all was said and done she owed him a debt. Sakura fully intended to repay it. The pink-haired kunoichi started to wiggle out from under the larger male.

Crimson eyes snapped open immediately, and Sakura quickly found herself restrained by a deadly hand on her neck. She stilled quickly.

"I…need to stop your bleeding."

He didn't look like he believed her, and Sharingan swirled wildly within crimson orbs. She didn't even know if he could hear her, or if he even recognized her. Delusions were setting in quickly due to the massive loss of blood. Sakura swallowed and tried again.

"You are going to bleed out soon. You need my help."

For awhile Sakura didn't think that he was going to release her; and the way his kekkei genkai was pinning her gaze down made her feel as though she was being mentally probed for her true intentions. Then as if he had found what he wanted he dropped his hold on her abruptly, and promptly collapsed on top of her, his energy spent.

Sakura grunted as she bore his weight. Her breath was knocked out of her and it was as if a pile of stones had just dropped themselves onto her chest. He looked deceptively slender, but was in actuality so heavy that she was thankful for her inhuman strength. With one quick shove she had him on his back right beside her, and Sakura quickly went to work. She sat up and started to crawl down the length of his body when she was stopped by a hand clasped tightly around her wrist.

"Girl. If you run…" He wasn't unconscious yet, an amazed Sakura thought incredulously as she met heavily lashed crimson, turbulent and hostile. "_I will hunt you down_."

Sakura narrowed her own eyes at him and tugged her captured arm away. How dare he issue threats to her when she was about to save him out of the kindness of her own heart? Why, she ought to just leave him to die down here.

"I will heal your leg, _then_ I will leave." Sakura announced coolly as she went to inspect the jagged wound on his right thigh. She wasn't planning to lie to the Akatsuki and assure him that she would stay by his side like a good little captive. Hell no, she would take whatever chance she could to return to her friends and family.

The flare of his chakra told her that he was not pleased with her reply at all, but then she didn't live to cater to his whims and thus pretty much ignored the Uchiha's volatile mood. She knew that she was playing with fire here, being so defiant with this sociopath killer but heck, she had just jumped off a cliff, survived, woke up in the presence of a wanted S-class missing-nin demanding for her to heal his eyes, refused and survived yet again, experienced a cave-in, survived, and she wasn't dead yet. Sakura figured that today was either her lucky day or her unluckiest day, depending on how one sees it that is.

It was a good thing that there was a full moon out tonight, hanging low and pregnant. Their fire had long since gone out but the soft silvery light of the moon would do. Methodically, she ripped open the Uchiha's pants with a kunai, and hissed softly when the full extent of his injury was revealed to her. The chunk of rock that had stabbed into his thigh must have been wide but sharp. The jagged wound was as long as the length of her entire hand and quite gored. The material of his black pants was soaked with crimson fluid and Sakura estimated that there had to be at least half of his blood supply on her, the ground as well as anywhere else other than in his system. It was actually surprising that he was still conscious and looking hard at her- she could feel the weight of his cold stare on her.

_Will like titanium…_

Sakura fought back a small shiver. This was one man she did not ever want to meet across a battlefield. It would be best for her to heal him as quickly as possible and then get the hell out. She was still in Kirigakure; she would need at least four days of hard traveling before she could reach the safety of Konoha again. Four days of being chased by the Akatsuki…Sakura could only pray hard that Itachi was the only one tasked to capture her.

Returning to the job at hand, Sakura quickly reached up to undo the Akatsuki cloak that the Uchiha was wearing. He did not make any move to stop her when she reached for the buttons at his throat, but nevertheless Sakura removed the rich material from the male as quickly as possible lest he changed his mind and decided to attack her, which didn't make any sense at all since he was too weak to even make any unnecessary movements. Fear was a great motivator, but it was also a great hindrance and Sakura had to forcibly remind herself not to panic while sharing such close proximity with the deadly Akatsuki.

With barely trembling hands, Sakura ripped out a strip from the cloak with her kunai. Her medic supplies had been lost during the chase in the forest and she just had to make do with what she had here. Quickly folding the material into a thicker and more absorbent pad she compressed the entire strip onto the large wound. This would have to do to act as a stopper to restrict the blood flow while she repaired the ruptured artery. The pressure that she was applying on the wound must have hurt like hell, but other than for the paleness expected from the excessive blood loss Itachi revealed no visible reaction that might indicate that he was in great pain. Sakura marveled at his tolerance and started to concentrate her chakra into his body.

It was only a slight tear of the main blood vessel but had it been any larger he would have been dead by now. It was a good thing that there were no complications and Sakura entered his bloodstream easily. The kunoichi pressed her chakra into his bone marrow and sped up the process of white blood cell formation. Within a minute the white blood cells produced were enough to regenerate an entire blood vessel. With the ease of experience, Sakura guided the cells to the damaged part of the femoral artery and started to patch up the small tear.

The result of her expert healing was instantaneous.

The bleeding eased almost immediately and within five minutes stopped completely. Slowly, Sakura removed the bloodied cloth and started to encourage clotting. The wound was too big for her to hope to heal just by the congealing of blood but Sakura was not done yet. Pumping more of her chakra into his system, the kunoichi coaxed his body to heal, and slowly, right before her focused eyes the ugly jagged wound started to close, gaining layers of slick muscles and lean fat and at last smooth, unblemished skin in an amazing way as if she had fast forwarded Time itself.

Sakura removed her hands from Itachi then, and quickly looked over the area where the injury had once resided. It had healed completely; she had not missed a spot and relief flared through the kunoichi. As far as he was concerned, she had repaid her debt. Itachi was still greatly weakened from the loss of blood though, but he would not die from it and she was not inclined at the least to help replenish his lacking hemoglobin supply. He could very well fend for himself now; and it was time for her to make her getaway.

"You will stay here."

Sakura did not even look at the Uchiha. She was busy scanning her surroundings. Hmm…she should probably head west until she reached the body of water…

"Kunoichi." His address of her was delivered in a cold hiss this time. It was obvious that the self-important Uchiha Itachi did not care to be ignored. Sakura turned her head back to face the undoubtedly furious male but she did not meet his crimson gaze. She did not come to this point of time just to be incapacitated by his bloodline limit.

"Yes?" She focused her gaze distractedly on the ground behind his left shoulder.

"Look at me."

What was she? Gullible? "No."

Cold silence, then.

"You cannot escape me."

Sakura had had enough of his lofty words. "You are going to feel very weak for the next day or so, so I suggest that you keep yourself hidden somewhere so that no hunter-nins can find you. Sleep if you can; it is the best way to replenish your lost blood supply." Sakura rattled off the standard aftercare instructions. Then she brightened as an idea struck her. "Even better, I shall put you to sleep now."

It would be like hitting two birds with one stone. He would rest, and best of all she would be able to give herself as long a time as possible to make a decent escape. It was obvious that he had caught on to her advantage as well.

He growled.

"Girl. You will not-"

"You cannot stop me."

It was the truth, and Sakura was suddenly feeling very hopeful now. Things were starting to look up. And why don't she drain some of his chakra too while she was at it? And so she did just that. He snarled weakly at her when he felt his energy drop to almost fifteen percent just by a single touch from her. He could not use his Sharingan now, and she lifted her eyes to meet his. She almost regretted her decision.

Crimson orbs jumped at her with utter hatred.

Sakura recoiled from him and swallowed hard. Gee, she could only pray hard that she would reach Konoha before he could get to her. Something told her that there was going to be hell to pay if she ever sees him again.

Elated emerald eyes gentled.

"Look, I'm really grateful that you have saved me." Sakura muttered carefully. "But please, I can't help you and remain loyal to Konoha at the same time. There are other medics out there who can help heal your eyes. Let me go in peace, and I will never speak of this encounter to anyone, I promise."

Itachi's answer was immediate and vehement.

"Foolish little girl." He spat at her peaceful offer, Sharingan whirling wildly with utter rage. Did she think to gentle him like some feral beast? "You still think that you have hope for survival after this? _You will die under my hand, make no mistake about that_."

His wrath washed through her like a blast of icy water, and shocked, she could only stare blankly at the face of his rage. She had never seen such pure, _raw_ loathing on anyone before, and watching his cold, handsome face twist in undiluted hostility was simply terrifying. His rage was animalistic, and she had never experienced such bloodlust from anyone before. It _scared_ her.

_He can't hurt me now. He can't hurt me. He can't._

Sakura recited the words in her mind repeatedly as she forced herself not to look away from his furious gaze. But even she could not persuade away the instinctual core of fear that he had awakened in her. He may not be able to retaliate now, but _he would eventually_. There was no way he was letting her get away with this so easily. She had dared bring down a powerful creature such as him; seen him when he was at such great disadvantage. The look of dark promise on his face told Sakura without words that he was going to make her regret everything that she had done to him, and the pink-haired kunoichi shuddered.

"I'm sorry."

She didn't know why she was apologizing, what she was apologizing for in the first place, but the barely restrained look of violence on his face had her blurting out the words before she even knew what to make out of it. Morbidly, Sakura wondered belatedly what she was sorry for; that she had unknowingly offended him, or that she was going to live a really short life because she had unknowingly offended him. The pink-haired kunoichi winced inwardly. He had seemed like someone who would be cold and emotionally detached (how else could he kill his entire clan in one night and not feel even an ounce of remorse?), and she knew why now.

Emotions clearly made him _insane_.

Glumly, Sakura thought that she should feel honored to be able to incite such _passion_ from the infamous clan-murderer Uchiha Itachi.

Yeah, she should be feeling very fortunate that she seemed to be the one whom he had chosen to fall in hate with. Starting to get a little hysterical now, Sakura decided that even Sasuke would not garner as much attention from his elder brother as she apparently had now.

Gods, she was really going to die.

'_You need to take him out now, if you still wish to escape_.'

Inner Sakura could not choose a better time to fuel her alter ego's wavering determination. Wary emerald eyes cleared quickly; immediately filled with forced optimism. On the bright side of things, the probability of her being able to return to Konoha safely this moment had increased exponentially when compared to earlier that evening. Sakura promptly shoved all her depressing thoughts aside. Maybe if she could reach Konoha…

She had to make full use of the opportunity. A little bit more, and she would be home free. She might be able to escape him still. She was probably just a tiny fish in his opinion, way out of his league. Maybe he would suffer from selective memory and forget about how he had suffered utter humiliation from this pink-haired kunoichi who had defeated him thanks to pure, dumb luck.

Sakura's emerald eyes filled with despair once more. Who was she trying to kid again?

'_Can you stop your little pity-fest for awhile here?_' Inner Sakura was getting snappish with impatience. '_We need to get going NOW_.'

Sakura was too emotionally exhausted to argue with her inner self. Slowly, her eyes lowered to meet Itachi's. Her emerald orbs were cloudy with guilt. His glittered with cold, hard anger.

She reached out to touch his body, and flinched inwardly when he curled his lips at her with utter hate.

Sakura tried to pretend that she didn't care the least about his fury.

He must have known that his intimidation wasn't working, that she was still going to insist on her decision. Almost as if someone had punctured a hole in his suffocating anger, his rage eased out of him. Sakura's cold hand touched his shoulder. His crimson eyes resembled chips of glacier now, but it was no better than the look of molten fury that he had pinned her down with but seconds ago. She eyed him with a perfectly placid expression, but what she didn't know was that her expressive eyes had shown everything to him.

Wariness. Fear.

Guilt.

"I will find you."

It wasn't a threat; it was a promise, a promise flavored with dark violence and hinted with malevolent hostility. She shifted subtly, and for a quick moment brilliant emerald glazed over with some sort of emotion, then was gone.

"I know…"

He closed his eyes the exact moment she shut down the chakra gate that controlled his consciousness. Uchiha Itachi would sleep for two whole days, and Haruno Sakura did not leave until an hour later.

_What have I done?

* * *

_

Naruto was the first person she saw when the gates of Konoha opened for her four days later.

She was tired, bone-weary, desperately undernourished and utterly skittish of every single thing around her. Her lackluster emerald eyes lit up at the sight of her fox brother loping up to her, and she nearly cried when he swept her up into a tight embrace. Her fingers curled desperately against the beloved orange jumpsuit, she drew a deep breath of that familiar scent of salty ramen and sunshine. Her tensed form relaxed gradually, the weight of the world lifted from her shoulders just like that.

_I'm home. I made it. _

_I'm home. _

Sakura let out a small almost hysterical bubble of laughter. It took all her concentration to let go of her best friend. She smiled shakily at the blonde with the endearing whiskers on his cheeks, emerald eyes gleaming with joyous tears as he stepped back to fuss over her health and malnourished physique.

"Sakura-chan, you are really alright, aren't you? You would tell me if there is anything wrong, right?" Naruto asked his pink-haired friend concernedly. Her team had reported back about the unexpected attack by the Akatsuki, and Sakura had been declared MIA since then. They had assumed the worst. Another three more days and they were about to send an ANBU team to track her down under the status of missing-nin but she had made it back. She was strong; she would always return to them, their resilient Sakura.

The little ANBU medic-nin smiled a little wider, warmth suffusing her body at her fox brother's care and concern. This was why she had remained true to her country. This was why she would remain a Konoha kunoichi to the very end. Friends. Family. She had made herself strong so as to protect them. She would _always_ protect them.

She was going to put her encounter with Uchiha Itachi away, treat it like it had never happened. She had sped through the islands of Kirigakure, then traveled non-stop through Konoha, stopping to rest only when absolutely compulsory and spending the minimum amount of time for sustenance. Every little sound, every little movement had made her nervous the past four days, and she absolutely hated it; this awful feeling of being hunted, of being all alone. She was back now though; so that episode of her life was over. She was with family now, with friends. Uchiha Itachi would look for medical help elsewhere if he was smart. She would not heal him again the next time they met. She would be prepared the next time, a little stronger than before now that she had come across him once. She was not going to let him destroy her life just because of a few threats. She was strong now.

She would be even stronger.

Sakura lifted a hand and tapped Naruto playfully on the nose, eliciting a playful scowl from the Kyuubi Jinchuriki. She giggled softly.

"I'm home, Naruto, how can there be anything wrong?"

* * *

"We have been observing for a long time. When are we going to proceed…un?" 

Deidara turned his head slightly to the side to regard the silent presence beside him. Their chakra signatures were masked, but that was expected seeing that they were currently situated at the edge of hostile territory. Konoha.

There was no reply for the impatient Iwagakure missing-nin. Not even a blink to acknowledge the question. On the training grounds sprawled openly before them a trill of laughter echoed as a small group of Jounins wrapped up their training session. _His_ interest was preoccupied there.

A pink-haired kunoichi was clutching her stomach, giggling madly as a blonde shinobi tackled her playfully to the ground. Uzumaki Naruto. The two romped on the grass like a pair of happy puppies while a silver-haired masked Jounin watched with amusement from the sidelines. Hatake Kakashi.

Team Seven.

The Genin team wasn't what was interesting to the Akatsuki this time around though, nor was the Kyuubi Jinchuriki or the Copy Ninja Kakashi.

No, it was the girl who had seen Uchiha Itachi at his weakest and yet had miraculously survived the encounter.

Deidara snorted softly.

Of course Itachi would be intently fixated on the kunoichi. Heck, he would too if he was so soundly trounced by the surprisingly _petite_ female. Honestly, he had expected someone bigger and stronger. Nobody in the organization knew what happened since Itachi hadn't been exactly very forthright about the entire affair and most of them valued their lives too much to enquire about it, but it had been nearly a month since the Akatsuki team consisting of Deidara and Tobi, together with Kisame, had located their missing compadre in Kirigakure. The Uchiha had taken too long to report his position and the temporary three-man team had been dispatched to find the lone Akatsuki.

Imagine their surprise when they found an incapacitated Uchiha neatly obscured in a small fruit bearing grove in the middle of the forest, nearly undetectable thanks to the powerful sound barrier and chakra suppressing shield that had been thoughtfully placed over him. The three missing-nins had stood by the entrance of the copse and stared in disbelief for a good minute before flashing Sharingan eyes threatened them into action. They had been prepared for the worst when the impeccable Uchiha had failed to check in with the organization but they certainly had not expected _this_. Deidara remembered how he had to forcibly restrain himself from guffawing out loud at the unexpected sight of an extremely brassed-off Itachi trussed up like a turkey, and even Kisame had an amused glint in his white eyes.

The blonde winced inwardly at his next recollection. Things weren't nearly as funny after Kisame had injected some chakra into the Uchiha with Samehada and said Uchiha had sadistically proceeded to make use of his fellow members to ease his rage and fury. Sourly, Deidara thought that it was a lucky thing that the little Konoha kunoichi had managed to escape; Itachi certainly would have killed her on the spot. Kisame, Tobi and himself had each bore severe injuries courtesy of the clearly insane Uchiha after he was finally done with them that day.

A soft, feminine shriek floated towards him from the training ground then, followed by a masculine rumble and even more laughter, successfully distracting the blonde from his musings. Deidara wrinkled his nose slightly. Why was it that there were happy little Konoha ninjas like those below and then on the other end of the spectrum from the very same village there emerged the psychopaths like Uchiha Itachi and Orochimaru?

He shook off his disturbing thoughts and lifted an irritated turquoise gaze to regard Itachi. Crimson Sharingan orbs were still fixed solely on the pink-haired female since they had arrived on this vantage spot and had not moved away yet. The Iwagakure missing-nin groaned inwardly. Now he knew why Kisame had flat out refused to accompany his partner on this deceptively simple little mission to retrieve the healer. The shark man must have known that she was no longer just a means to an end for Itachi. No, the damned Uchiha was waging a _personal_ vendetta against the kunoichi. The two S-class missing-nins had been here for almost a week already and still Itachi was not yet inclined to capture the female despite the many opportunities that they had, preferring to keenly observe her every action in a manner not unlike a hunter observing the behavior of his prey.

Deidara shuddered delicately. This Haruno Sakura wouldn't be this innocently happy now if she knew that she held the dubious honor of capturing the Uchiha's exclusive attention. People who interested the cold, dispassionate male normally ended up dead for their efforts, and in all the years that he had worked with the Uchiha never had he seen him this intensely fixated on anyone before.

It was really disconcerting, but Deidara didn't really give a damn anymore. He just wanted to return to the comforts of the headquarters. He had had enough of hiding in trees and stalking after innocent pink-haired medic-nins and would just like to grab the girl already and go home. He didn't say that to Itachi though.

Deidara cursed under his breath. Damn that Kisame, just wait until he returns from this mission; he was going to make shark-fin's soup out of that blue-skinned sadistic sociopath.

* * *

_::tsuzuku::_


	4. Chapter 4

**Juxtaposition**

**Chapter 4**

"Sakura-chan! Are you sure that you don't want to go for ramen with us? I mean, Kakashi-sensei _is_ treating, you know?"

The pink-haired kunoichi shook her head at Naruto. "Nah, I'm a little tired from the sparring and I have got to leave for a mission early tomorrow morning, remember?" Sakura grinned ruefully at her teacher then. "Besides I think that Kakashi-sensei is going to burn a hole in his pocket just by feeding you alone, Naruto."

"Aw…but Sakura…!!"

The female in question merely shook her head once more, emerald eyes glowing with a little regret. She understood Naruto's eagerness; it really was rare that Kakashi-sensei was treating, and above that it was even rarer that all three of them had the time to spend with each other. Sakura really wanted to go; really she did, but the call of duty simply would not allow her the luxury. She needed to read the mission scrolls and that was going to take time.

"Naruto." Kakashi spoke in a clear tenor. It was only a single word, but the Kyuubi Jinchuriki understood. Duty _always_ comes first. Naruto deflated comically, and Sakura could not help but giggle. It was just like the old times, and Sakura would have thought that the blonde was still thirteen if not for the fact that Naruto easily towered a good head over her now.

"Be good, Naruto." The pink-haired kunoichi reached up and flicked his nose playfully. "It will be my turn to treat both you and Kakashi-sensei when I return, ok?"

The blonde stopped pouting but it wasn't because of her promise of ramen that had done so. Sapphire eyes turned serious. "Sakura-chan, promise me that you will stay safe."

Even Kakashi was looking at her now, and Sakura could see the concern reflecting in their eyes. Sakura smiled softly at two important men in her life. She hated to worry them and it was obvious that they were still concerned about her after her most recent run-in with Uchiha Itachi. It was almost one month since her dangerous encounter and she hadn't seen hair or hide of the Akatsuki yet. Surely she was safe now; he probably had realized that it was much less trouble to go after other medic-nins. Sakura was confident that she would never see the Uchiha again.

"Of course, I will."

* * *

Sakura slipped shut the door to her apartment with a soft sigh. 

It had taken more than a few words of reassurances before Naruto would leave. Her fox brother was a little too overprotective sometimes, but Sakura would not have it any other way. It was how Naruto shows his concern, though sometimes the kunoichi wishes that he didn't have to act as if she was completely helpless. It really was a good thing that Kakashi-sensei had dragged the protesting fox away when he had gotten a little too suffocating to her.

Sakura smiled inwardly. She knew that the silver-haired Jounin cared about her as well, but he would never purposely impose the burden of his concern upon her especially when he knew how uncomfortable that always made her. Sakura never wanted to worry anybody, and Kakashi knew enough about that to give her space. Good old Kakashi. He understood her more than she did herself sometimes.

Sakura cast her living room a vaguely disinterested glance. There was nothing out of ordinary here; nothing out of place. Dropping her keys on the table she padded barefooted in the direction of the bathroom. She was sweaty and pleasantly exhausted from the training session, and she decided to raid the pantry for something edible after a relaxing shower.

Rolling her shoulders absentmindedly, Sakura entered the bathroom and started to remove her clothes. She hummed a little tune from memory as she stepped into the modest shower area and pulled the shower curtain shut and turned on the water. The little tune evolved into an enthusiastic song as she stepped under the water.

Sakura closed her eyes contentedly as the warm water fell against her skin, washing away the day's dirt and exhaustion. She could also feel her tensed muscles relaxing; this was pure heaven.

The pink-haired kunoichi started to wet her hair and as she did so her mind quickly planned a small to-do-list for the rest of her day off. Have lunch, read mission scrolls, go get some groceries, and read a book perhaps? She was so engrossed with her thoughts that it took her a long moment to realize that something was _very wrong_.

Chakra.

Powerful. Strong. Overwhelming.

Not hers.

Sakura froze.

* * *

The woman sang like a dying hen. 

Apparently her off keyed singing was just as disgraceful as her sorely lacking skills as a kunoichi; she hadn't even managed to detect his presence outside her humble apartment when she had entered her home, and it infuriated him further to know that it was the likes of her and her amateurish abilities that had bested him, one of the most powerful shinobi in existence.

She was an ugly blot in the pristine records of his achievements.

It was also becoming quickly obvious to him that she should have died a long time ago for her careless inattention to her surroundings but no matter; he would be more than happy to snuff out her pathetic existence for her. It would certainly erase away all the reminders of his disgraceful defeat to her and maybe that would soothe the restlessness stirring within his soul, not to mention the growing irritation that he had been forced to put up with as he observed her behavior for the past one week.

For someone who had seen him lose his ironclad composure and at the same time been violently threatened by him, she was certainly being very cheerful about it. He had returned to Konoha fully expecting to see her skittish and scared out of her foolish wits and ready to do anything he wanted her to but no, she had picked up her life where she had left it and continued living like a happy little kunoichi that she was. It had angered him that she could so nonchalantly dismiss the threat that he possessed when she knew firsthand just how deadly he could be. It quickly occurred to him that she was either very stupid or very naïve, both of which were not going to be very helpful to her in the near future.

No, she hadn't appeared to be afraid for her own life at all, and for that she had roused in him an interest that was almost bothering on obsessive. Even the most powerful and experienced shinobi knew better than to behave as she had towards him; to unguard oneself against an enemy would be tantamount to the desire to court a certain death and the fact that she was doing just that had intrigued him. He knew that she had revealed minimum amount of information to the Konoha ANBU about her forced meeting with him in Kirigakure. She had done just like she had promised him that night when she had healed him and the fact that she was actually honorable and kept true to her words amused him.

Her misplaced sense of honor was making it very easy for him to recapture her again.

Yet he hadn't chosen to strike at the first chance, despite the many opportune moments that had already passed him by.

No. The past month spent in deep meditation interspersed with quick, hard missions for the organization had soothed his overwhelming rage and allowed him to think, to do what he does best. To plot. Plan. It had also opened his eyes to the strange phenomenon that the pink-haired kunoichi had wrought in him.

She made him _feel_.

His existence had always been a kaleidoscope of blank, emotionless grey, and death had never excited him no matter the amount of carnage that he could create. Power was a tool that he wielded with great ease, a tool that required to be sharpened continuously, honed and deadly. But even then, the satisfaction was nothing compared to what he felt for this kunoichi now. He could still recall that night from a month ago.

The anger.

The gut-churning rage.

The almost dizzying desire to spill her blood, to see her submit before him. He could still see the raw emotions imprinted in the back of his eyelids, taste it in his tongue, smell it in his superior olfactory senses.

He couldn't quite remember the last time he had felt as magnificently as that night but this little medic-nin from Konoha had easily evoked the emotions from him with just her temperament and her odd character.

No.

He had never understood why it had been so important for a shinobi to keep a tight reign on his emotions; never understood because he had never had the need to check his impulses before. Because there were none. But now that he had an accidental taste-

He wanted more.

He was a born genius. The need to know was as natural to him as the act of breathing. He wanted to explore this realm newly opened to him. He wanted to know everything, see the entire spectrum, feel it. Power was a familiar vice, but this, _this_ was brand new. Foreign. And he wanted the knowledge. Craved it.

He had not let go of his overwhelming emotions for the pink-haired kunoichi; he could not. Never had he felt such intense feelings before, and if he had to admit it, it excited him. _She_ excited him. It had been his full intention to hunt her down like an animal and kill her initially, but now that the cold rage of humiliation had subsided to a simmering discontent, he wanted to experience the unique sensations that came to him only whenever she was nearby. He wanted to know why, _how_ she seemed to be the only one to be able to bring the violent bursts of colors into his monochrome life and in order to do so he had to _keep her alive_.

But this time, he was making sure to enter the battlefield fully prepared. He was not letting her have the upper hand again. Once was enough, and he always learned from his mistakes. She did not appear to fear him, but that was perfectly alright. His observations of her the past week had already bore fruit. He had found her weakness, and he knew definitely that she would behave docilely for him as long as he held it before her.

Everyone had their weakness, and he would continue to taunt her with hers while forcing her to let him feel the euphoric thrill again and again until he knew all there was to know about it and it ceased its allure to him.

Only then, will he kill her.

* * *

Oh God. Oh God. Oh God. 

She should have known, shouldn't have acted so optimistic.

He had come for her.

That unmistakable chakra. The cold, precise power roiling about in her bathroom.

Her bathroom!

Emerald eyes snapped open and Sakura quickly came out of her horrified shock. Was he planning to kill her in here? Was she going to die an undignified death? Was whoever going to stumble across her cold body going to get an eyeful of her deceased charms?

Sakura grimaced inwardly as she quickly reached for the towel on the shelf behind her. She knew that it was foolish to be worrying about her modesty when there was a much bigger threat to worry about but damn, S-class missing-nin or no, Uchiha Itachi was still a man and she was not above calling him a pervert if the hat fits. It was a good thing that her shower curtain was the non-transparent type but it was really unfortunate that there were no convenient windows in her bathroom for her to jump out of. She didn't think to keep any weapons in here too. Sakura grimaced once more. _He_ probably knew it as well.

There was no choice, the pink-haired kunoichi thought as she wrapped the large white towel tightly around her form, but to confront him.

It was easier said than done, for Sakura had no idea what was waiting for her at the other side of the bathroom. Instant death? Somehow she doubted that he would be that kind. Sakura felt fear, fear that made her heart pound and her fingers tremble but Sakura quickly steeled herself and clenched her fists. Reducing herself to a useless, blubbering mess was not going to help the situation; she needed all her wits around her if she wanted to survive this. The familiar emerald fire returned to her eyes, bright and determined.

If worst comes to the worst, she would go down fighting, and that's that.

Taking a deep breath to calm her nerves, Sakura lifted her hand to pull aside the curtain. She kept her gaze planted firmly onto the ground, and damn it, she absolutely hated this feeling of vulnerability. Emerald gaze traveled across her linoleum floor until she saw the pair of boots and the hem of the Akatsuki robes right in the middle of her modest bathroom. Even though she had already guessed his identity before she had pulled open the curtain, the confirmation sent desperate pulses of fear through her system. Sakura thought that she could feel her knees go weak. She was unclothed and defenseless and about to be killed in her own bathroom. Sakura prayed to any god willing to listen that if she ever survived this encounter she was never going to be caught so easily unaware again; she was going to plant weapons all over her house if need be.

She waited nervously for him to say anything, but he didn't.

Through the heart thumping fear, a flash of irritation shot through her. He probably knew that she was being scared stupid by him, and was enjoying the scent of her fear. She wasn't going to tolerate that. Either start attacking or say something!

"You are tracking dirt all over my floor."

Sakura did not know why she said that. Only that she had said it and that her voice hadn't shook like she had feared it would and damn if she hadn't sounded surly and as irritable as grumpy bear. Sakura would have felt extremely proud of herself if not for the horrified voice in her head telling her that dead people do not need to have clean floors.

He didn't say anything, and Sakura's fear was quickly giving way to…impatience?

Morbidly, the kunoichi quickly decided that since she was going to die already she might as well go out with a bang. She lifted her head slowly, her eyes traveling up the lean, sleekly muscular form barely concealed by the Akatsuki robe, lingering a little on the various red clouds and wondering what those symbolized. She would never know of course, and she didn't think that he would appreciate her asking though it would certainly help to stall the time of her imminent death a little. Sakura immediately felt a little humored by the notion. She tried to imagine herself asking the Uchiha a bunch of impertinent questions but couldn't quite picture him answering her back.

Oh well.

Sakura's gaze met his then, and other than for the customary visual punch that the kekkei genkai walloped the pink-haired kunoichi was infinitely relived to see that he had on his icy mask once more. She had never forgotten the insane look in his eyes when that blank façade came off, and she didn't think that she would like to see that ever again. Once was enough to last her a lifetime, and as Sakura watched those implacable crimson orbs staring back at her she could not help but straighten her spine and tilt up her chin in answering challenge. He was correct in guessing that she would be utterly vulnerable here; naked, alone and weaponless, but that didn't mean that she was going to have to show it to him.

"What do you want, Uchiha?" Sakura was pleased to find that she still retained her harsh, annoyed tone. Yes, keep that up and he would start to think that she was only irritated that he had disrupted her bath.

Yeah, keep dreaming and maybe he might. She really didn't know how she could see it but those emotionless Sharingan eyes told her that he knew that he was scaring the crap out of her. Sakura did not like her current situation at all. He was not attacking her and that could only mean one thing; that he was playing with her. Sakura stiffened, then quickly forced herself to adopt a tranquil expression as if they weren't in her bathroom and she wasn't as good as naked in front of a dangerous enemy.

He decided to speak.

"You are very close to your teammates. The Kyuubi Jinchuriki and Hatake Kakashi."

That was _not_ what she had expected him to say. Emerald eyes widened with confusion. What was he trying to pull now?

"You are loyal to your country only because of the ties that bind you here." He stated calmly. Too calmly. She felt the hair on the back of her neck stand. "What would happen if I break them? Shatter each and every one of them till there is no hope for return. Your family. Your teachers. Your best friends." He tilted his head slightly at the frozen look on her face. "Will you still be loyal to Konoha then?"

There was a look of innocent curiosity on his face, and Sakura felt her throat go sandpaper dry. Suddenly she could not speak at all, could not even open her mouth to deny the chilling effects his words her wrought in her. Sick nausea bubbled at her throat, acidic and stinging.

It was a threat.

Sakura felt her limbs go weak with terror. She knew now what he was trying to do, and a part of her quickly realized her folly. It wasn't necessary for him to have to attack her to hurt her. No, he would go after those closest to her, and make her _watch impotently_ by the sidelines. Her emerald eyes were rounded with shock, and unbeknownst to her the air escaping from her chest were quick and harsh, as if she was running in a marathon and her lungs were suddenly so small that they were not taking enough air. Through the blind panic Sakura could hardly pull herself together. Then came another ugly truth; he didn't have to use his bloodline limit to get into her head, to know what she was thinking and to understand the values that she held in high regard.

There was more than one way to inflict agony on a person and he, a master manipulator of mind and people, knew that better than she did.

He was way out of her league, and Sakura was finally starting to feel the mind numbing, soul chilling fear that was associated with him.

But even as her insides coalesced to ice at the notion of the things that he and his vile organization could do to those whom she care for, a spark of anger, lifesaving, god-blessed, _anger_ ignited within her.

_He had no right. _

It was heavy and stilted, but nevertheless the growing rage was better than the painful terror that he was forcing her to feel, forcing her to admit her defeat before his supreme will. She would sooner die than to admit anything like that. Sakura grabbed hold of her anger and refused to drown in the soul-sucking waters of dread. Dark verdant orbs flared immediately to an angry, vibrant emerald.

He watched as she erupted before him; one second she was deceptively harmless and fearfully cowering before him and then the next she was descending upon him like a raging animal, heedless of her physical vulnerability, wet pink hair flying around her in wet arcs and furious emerald eyes boring holes into his as she glared at him furiously. Her aura sizzled and snapped around her like fierce tendrils of trembling, uncontrolled energy and he felt a glimmer of excitement enter his senses.

Such a fierce desire to protect those around her; she was a startling contrast to those weak pathetic cowards who were willing to sell the souls of their loved ones just for a chance for survival. He was intrigued, and yet again he could not wait to feel his response to her emotions again. Her instinctive need to defend her loved ones would ultimately drive her to him, the exact way he had planned it.

She was trembling with fury, but she was not stupid. She came to an abrupt stop a couple of feet before him and did not assault his person; to do so would be suicidal and he would not hesitate to retaliate, interest or no.

"_You will not touch them_." She didn't yell her command; she had whispered it but the words shook with pure conviction. "I will not let you."

His face was blank and totally belied the dangerous fascination that he had reserved solely for this pink-haired kunoichi. He didn't need to reply to her empty boast. They both knew there was no way that she could stop him if he ever put his mind to do something, but the hard gleam in her emerald gaze told him that she would still try anyway.

He wanted her to suffer for what she had seen that one month ago and she knew that. She was starting to realize that he would stop at nothing to see her in screaming agony, that physical torment was too slight a punishment for her. No, he would not debase his techniques for her; he was a master illusionist first and foremost, and mindfucking was what he does best. She was sure that he would find it amusing to watch her fall apart before his very eyes, but she would not allow him to drag in her friends and family for his sick amusement. She would sooner end his game for him than to let him have that satisfaction, that sick bastard.

"This is between us and it will stay between us." Sakura hissed softly. "You have something against me then you will focus your displeasure on me, and not those around me."

He lowered his eyelids then, thick, long lashes that are almost feminine in nature. She could still see the slivers of crimson, hard and glittering. "They are connected to you. They will be your downfall." He predicted at last.

She gritted her teeth at the quiet amusement she could barely detect in his soft, tenor drawl.

"I will kill myself." She threatened furiously.

He looked unimpressed by her threat.

"And I will kill them all the same."

She flinched at hearing the dark confirmation his words provided her. He was not joking, she knew that. Kakashi-sensei, with all his power and experience had faced off against this particular Uchiha once and had come out the worst of the two. She didn't even dare think how Naruto might fare in a lone fight against this Akatsuki, or worse, his organization as a whole. They had wanted the Kyuubi within, are still looking for ways to extract the nine-tailed demon from her fox brother and she simply could not risk Naruto's confrontation with them. She would die a thousand deaths if anyone in her family was hurt because of her, and that's why she was trying so desperately to divert away the attention of the predator even when she knew that the people whom she loves definitely had the abilities to look after themselves.

No, she wasn't trying to be selfless; she was being selfish, selfish because she didn't want to feel the guilt and the pain of being the reason behind those unnecessary sacrifices just because once again, she was just too weak to protect herself.

She knew what she had to do. She was also beginning to realize that this was what he had probably been planning for her to do from the start and the impotent anger within her increased tenfold. Manipulation. He had known what he wanted from her from the very beginning. Sakura was stuck between a rock and a hard place, and she could feel tears of frustration gathering in her emerald eyes.

Slowly, she deflated piteously before him, all the fire within her temporarily exhausted.

"What do you want from me, Uchiha?" the pink-haired kunoichi whispered at last in defeat. "Please don't harm any of them. I will do what you ask."

He found that it didn't do anything for him at all, seeing her nearly broken before his eyes. This victory hadn't tasted as sweet as he had envisioned it to be, and had left him vaguely dissatisfied. No, she had to be her lively, spirited self in order for her to evoke those intense feelings within him. No matter, there will be enough time for him to analyze his strange requirement later.

Crimson eyes opened fully to regard the pitiful scrap of femininity before him. She was very small for a kunoichi, and her looks only bordering on pretty. Her eyes were unique though, as if all the emeralds in the world were squeezed dry of their color and given to her but other than that there really wasn't anything special about her physical appearance.

Other than the fact that she could easily make him lose his perfect composure there was nothing special about her at all.

If she had been powerful enough for him to deem as a threat he would have killed her that night in the cave, never mind if he still needed her healing expertise. But fortunately for her she had been below his attention until she had caused him to lose control, and now it was obvious that she made him weak. He wasn't supposed to have any weakness; he was the most powerful seed of his clan, one of the strongest ninjas in the world. It galled him that a weak female like her could jerk his chain when no one else had succeeded yet. She was his blind spot.

He really should kill her, and he would; when he had forced her to give him all there is she had to offer, when he had cracked open all her secrets.

Sharingan eyes froze over.

"Tomorrow you will leave with me."

Sakura shook her head immediately.

"I can't just disappear like that. They will send the ANBU to look for me!" She protested. "And I have a mission tomorrow-"

"Yes, a rather important ranking mission with no specific timeline to heal an ailing daimyo in River country. That had been arranged by my people."

Her eyes widened and ignoring her, he continued.

"You will behave as if this is a normal mission. You will do what you do before an assignment and bade your comrades farewell and then you will come to me." He looked at her delicately. "The price of failure-"

The fire returned to her eyes.

"Don't threaten me." She snapped. "I have heard your words loud and clear; don't rub it in my face."

Her rate of recovery from dejection to agitation was astounding, and the fury in her deep verdant orbs was almost mesmerizing. He wasn't about to let her get away from her insolence though.

"Good." He spoke once more, paused a little while for effect, then continued quietly. "Just so you know; this would be the last time you will see this village again."

Her sharp intake of breath was unmistakable but he easily ignored it. He prepared himself to hear loud shrills of denial from her. More anger, and even tears.

She did no such thing.

"You will not harm my friends?" She only asked softly at last, looking for his confirmation.

He was beginning to find her selflessness irritating, not to mention disgusting. He, who had been boredly eying the interior of her humble bathroom, lowered his eyes to meet hers. They were surprisingly calm and tranquil.

"No." _You are the one I want to hurt. You are the one I want to see scream and cry and bleed. _

Her eyelids came down and hid her reaction from him but he already knew what it was. Relief. His agitation increased. He was aware of how sensitive he seemed to be to her emotions and that made him even more annoyed. She should have nothing to feel relieved about, and feeling particularly cruel at the moment he decided to enlighten her about her fate in the near future.

"I have said before, kunoichi, it is _you_ whom I am after." Her emerald eyes reopened to stare at him. They still held the vestiges of relief that he was determined to wipe away at all costs.

"Make no mistake about this; after you heal my eyes, you will die under my hand."

She stared at him unblinkingly. His suddenly hard, angry tone didn't seem to affect her at all. The calm, accepting look was still on her face. She had known all along that there would be a price to pay for everything, and this was no exception.

Sakura nodded slowly, and he was astounded once more by her behavior. She was supposed to cry and beg for her life, or at least go into shock. She was not supposed to look consoled by his words.

"Keep your promise, Uchiha, and I will keep mine."

_

* * *

::tsuzuku:: _


	5. Chapter 5

**Juxtaposition**

**Chapter 5**

Sakura spent most of the night crying and it clearly showed. The skin around her eyes was red and puffy, and her emerald eyes were glazed and slightly dull. Itachi had left her apartment shortly after giving her more instructions for the next day and she had promptly collapsed in the middle of her bathroom floor right after his departure, her limbs weak and her breath short.

The shock wore off quickly, and then the tears started.

Sakura had cried silently, the clear liquid seeping from her glittering eyes borne out of fear and grief.

Fear, because in her heart she knew that Uchiha Itachi had meant everything when he told her that he was going to kill her and as brave as she had pretended to be she was scared out of her mind. There were still so many things for her to do and she didn't want to die now. She hadn't fallen in love yet, hadn't had her first kiss, her first bout of passion, hadn't gotten married, hadn't had any children to remember her legacy. She was still so young, and there were still so many parts of the world that she hadn't seen yet. She wanted to live.

Grief, because once she left this beloved village she would never see the faces of those closest to her ever again. Her mother's soft, maternal gaze. Her father's look of quiet pride as he gazed down upon his only child. Naruto's grinning, foxy face when she bought him ramen. Kakashi's smiling eye. Tsunade-shishou's look of pure delight when she presented her with her favorite brand of sake. Ino's sassy voice, her playful smirk, when they argued about nothing and everything in particular. Her family. Her best friends. Her teachers. She was going to miss them so much.

Sakura didn't know which she had cried for the most, but both broke her heart and damn near broke her indomitable spirit as well. She did not know for how long she had stayed curled up on the floor of her bathroom, wrapped only in a towel and crying her heart out but she had ached all over and even her bones had felt the chill when she finally picked herself up from the floor.

She had looked utterly wretched, face red and blotchy from the continuous crying, wet pink hair long since dried and badly tangled up. She hardly cared though, and had dressed herself up mechanically even as tears slipped soundlessly from her cheeks. She wasn't feeling hungry anymore; the hollow pit in her stomach had solidified into a heavy black mass of dread and sorrow. She went to her living room and sat there in a stupor, gazing at nothing in particular as wet trails of salty liquid ran down her cheeks and dripped piteously onto her clothes. She sat there until the daylight faded away, until the sun set, until darkness covered her like a velvety cloak

By midnight, she had cried all the tears she could possibly cry and everything around her was silent. Dry-eyed, she was still sitting all alone on her couch when she told herself that enough was enough. This bout of self-pity has got to stop now.

Inner Sakura agreed.

They had only got less than half a day of freedom left and it was well past time to start doing something productive. And so Sakura picked herself up from the couch and as she did so she could not help but feel the sense of purpose fill her temporarily ravaged soul. The positive feeling pushed away the dread and she immediately felt a lot better.

The first thing that Sakura did was to raid the pantry. She ate hungrily and as the food filled her empty stomach, the thoughts and the plans started to enter her head with lightning speed. After all, as Inner Sakura had pointed out, they had only had less than half a day left. Every second was precious from henceforth.

When she finally ate her fill Sakura went to her bedroom and started to pack her supplies for tomorrow. She packed methodically, as she always does for all her missions and it didn't take her long to finish gathering up the necessities that she was going to need, which was exactly the way that she had planned it.

Next, she grabbed her coat and left her apartment. Predictably the streets were empty at two in the morning as she took her stroll but that was perfectly fine with her. As she slowly walked past places where she deemed special to her she took a stroll down memory lane as well, reminiscing and holding the precious recollections close to her heart. The smiling faces, the warmth and joyous remembrances, Sakura made sure to keep them firmly imprinted in her mind. Her walk about Konoha took her all over the place, from the Academy to Team Seven's old training ground to the Hokage tower, and it was nearly five am when she finally returned to her apartment. Her heart felt so much lighter compared to when she first stepped out for her walk, and she was now fully prepared for what she was determined to do next.

Letters.

For the next three hours, Sakura painstakingly composed letters upon letters. Some were to her parents, some were to her friends. All were written on a positive note and with her trademark Sakura-esque cheerfulness. Sometimes she wrote about her hopes, her dreams, sometimes she nagged good-naturedly through her writings and other times she tried to be serious and funny. Sakura didn't want to be remembered in sadness, she wanted to be remembered in love; and it didn't matter that she had cried again when she wrote her precious letters, she would be perfectly content if her recipients could feel her spirit in her writings and laugh and weep together with her too.

Strangely, when the last word had been written and the last letter slipped into its envelope, Sakura hadn't felt the heavy sense of grief like she had thought she would. She hadn't felt as though she was about to leave something precious and irretrievable behind; oddly enough she had felt as though a heavy burden had been lifted off her shoulders.

She was still scared to death of what would happen to her in the near future of course, but now she felt as though she could face her fears and not cower before it like she had done earlier. Through the letters she had felt as though she had just talked to each and every one of her loved ones, and she didn't feel quite so alone anymore. Yes, she was now determined to see all of her remaining days with a quiet strength of mind that would make her family and friends proud of her.

It was nearly time for her to leave Konoha when she carefully tucked the bundle of letters in a jewelry box by her dresser. They would be found only when her death became a reality, and Sakura's heart twinged a little when she thought of that. Then a part of her chided that she should be feeling fortunate that at least she was given a chance to say her farewells; not a lot of ninjas had that luxury to do so, and Sakura felt a little better.

She went to her bedroom and collected her satchel, and tried not to feel like she was heading towards her execution as she walked out to her living room. Sakura reached the entrance of her apartment and paused, turning around slowly and taking one last visual sweep of her tiny home. Her eyes darkened. She took a deep, shuddering breath and exhaled shakily.

This was it.

With finely trembling fingers, she twisted the doorknob and pulled open the door. She took another harsh breath before composing herself quickly, straightening her shoulders and standing taller. Sakura slung her satchel behind her resolutely and pushed away all the negative thoughts. Emerald eyes didn't turn cold and emotionless as she readied herself for her ordeal ahead; no, they held a steady, determined glint that told anyone who knew her predicament just how mentally strong this kunoichi was.

Sakura had decided that she wasn't about to be bogged down by her circumstances this easily. The pink-haired kunoichi clenched her fingers around her doorknob once before letting go. No, she was not going to fall into depression and kill off her own spirit just like that. If need be, she would go down fighting, and that was that. Until the very last moment.

Suddenly feeling a lot more courageous, Sakura didn't feel as apprehensive about her newest mission anymore.

The pink-haired kunoichi took the first step out of her house.

She didn't turn back.

* * *

By the time she reached the ravine at the edge of Konoha where she was supposed to meet up with the Akatsuki it was already well past noon. She entered the designated clearing alone and the look on her face was so calm and tranquil that Deidara would have believed that she was here on her own volition had he not been privy to the truth. 

Her hands however, told a different story. They were shaking fiercely despite her best efforts. He had to award her points for being so outwardly composed as a whole. There were not many who could still look like she did while knowing of the inevitable fate that awaited them in the end. Most would have either been reduced to an uncontrolled blubbering mess by now or they would have long since run off in the other direction.

But not her.

The blonde had scoffed when the Uchiha had informed him of the situation the night before; he hadn't really believed that the woman would come to them especially after the Sharingan user had went and threatened her life like that. After all, what sane person would willingly walk to their death? Deidara was very sure that they were going to have to return to Konoha to retrieve the frightened healer, and he had irritably told the Uchiha so too. Predictably, Itachi had just shot him that calm look of his and didn't say anything.

He didn't need to, it seemed to Deidara now. He must have known right from the start that she would come to them.

The blonde could not help but feel a certain curiosity towards the pink-haired female standing alone in the middle of the clearing. What kind of person was she?

He had known enough that somehow she had managed to incapacitate one of their best but yet she hadn't killed the Uchiha like any normal ninjas would do in her position. Instead, she had healed him and even sought to protect him from hunter-nins with her powerful shields and chakra barriers. She was unusually compassionate for a kunoichi, though Deidara was thinking that she had got to regret now not killing the Uchiha when she had the chance. Deidara almost pitied the girl. It was a foolish mistake on her part to think that the Uchiha could feel gratitude and gratefulness like any normal person. No, everyone who knew Uchiha Itachi also knew that he was an _emotionless and merciless killer_. It wasn't that the man had purposely closed himself off to emotions; no, the scion of the Uchiha clan simply did not possess the capability to feel.

Fascination though, was an entirely different story, and the Uchiha was _definitely_ very fascinated by Haruno Sakura of Konoha. In fact, Deidara had never seen the dispassionate male show this much interest in a female before and it was startling to see it now. It really was a revelation, and the blonde almost felt sorry for the poor pink-haired medic-nin.

Really, she had no one to fault but herself.

Deidara's little clay bird returned to him just at that moment, successfully rousing the Akatsuki from his quiet musings. The intricately detailed sparrow communicated with its master in a series of soft chirps and tweets which the blonde seemed to be able to understand. Deidara lent his shoulder for his little spy to rest upon when it finished giving him its report.

"She came alone…un. No one followed her and as far as Konoha is concerned, she has left successfully for her mission." The blonde tilted his head slightly to look at his unmoving partner. "Well? Shall we?"

The two Akatsuki were well hidden among the dense undergrowth of the forest canopy at the edge of the clearing and their chakra signatures were suppressed to the point of nonexistence. Both had been waiting here since the arrival of dawn and Deidara was eager to get going already. He shifted impatiently and eyed the motionless Uchiha when the other male made no move to speak or answer him.

"I know you are out there. I'm not in the mood for any of your games. Either come out now or I'm leaving."

Her flat voice carried over to them easily enough, and Deidara's brows damn near disappeared into his hairline. She dare command them? Turquoise gaze immediately flew towards Itachi to see what the male has got to say about _that_, and judging from the almost imperceptible narrowing of crimson orbs, Deidara could safely conclude that the Uchiha was not too happy about the kunoichi's insolence.

Good god, was this woman suicidal or completely without any sense of self-preservation? Deidara immediately focused his sight onto the female standing all alone in the center of the clearing. Her posture was stiff, her head was high, her emerald eyes glittered with annoyance…

And she was staring off in an entirely wrong direction.

He liked this female already.

Deidara could not stop the small grin from appearing on his face. No wonder Itachi was so enthralled with this kunoichi. She was certainly…different. He had expected…well, he didn't know what he had expected from a female who had bested one of theirs actually, but whatever it was it certainly wasn't this. It was becoming more and more obvious that she had managed to outwit Itachi only thanks to sheer, dumb luck on her side but yet there was something about her that didn't completely fit the incompetent picture that she was painted out to be.

It didn't make much sense at all but that cautioned him against completely dismissing her as an incapable kunoichi. Besides, it stood to reason that if the female was really that commonly useless she wouldn't have caught Itachi's attention in the first place.

She must be a wild card.

Itachi slid into action then, dragging the blonde from his ponderings. Following his partner's example, Deidara dropped silently from the branch that they had been perched on to land on the mossy ground noiselessly. The kunoichi detected the movement from the corner of her eyes and quickly spun around to confront the intruders.

The two Akatsuki entered the clearing at the same time but Sakura only had eyes for one. Her gaze narrowed quickly upon the taller male with the deep crimson eyes and long raven hair. Almost as if she held no fear towards them, she marched up to them immediately, her stiff strides and slightly jerky gait completely belying her confident approach. She must be scared to death of them, Deidara marveled inwardly, but yet she forged onwards as if her life depended upon it.

It was very brave…but foolish.

"Before you say anything I would like a chance to have a word first." It wasn't request, and the determined set of her face told all who were present that she would have her say no matter what. Itachi did not reply to her demand, merely continued scrutinizing her as if she was some insect that had just dropped from the sky. Deidara was too flummoxed by her to do anything other than to stare at her to see what she would do next. Sakura paid the blonde no heed.

"I don't like you."

Her painful departure from Konoha still etched deeply in mind, Sakura poured all her anger and her loathing into that one sentence. The Uchiha stood before her, expressionless. Sakura glared as fiercely as she could, emerald eyes glimmering with unshed tears which she would rather die than to see fall before him. Predictably, he did not even flinch at the face of her hatred; and those crimson orbs of his were looking distinctly bored now, much to her increasing fury.

Deidara looked quietly between the two. The kunoichi was being very daring to throw her little tantrum before the deadly Uchiha, and what surprised the blonde even more was that Itachi was actually allowing it. Deidara quickly came to the conclusion that the Sharingan user was probably humoring the girl until she healed his eyes. Still, it was amusing to see her behaving thusly before them. Thanks to their fearsome reputation it wasn't often that they experienced something like that. It was refreshing, to say the least, not to mention amusing and Deidara decided that he was certainly going to make full use of this entertaining female until her time was up.

"Maybe you should tell us something we don't know…un."

Deidara don't know whether to be amused or offended when she didn't even flicker her gaze to look at him. Instead, those intense green eyes of hers started to spit fire at his dispassionate partner.

"From henceforth if you get injured, I will not lift even a finger to help you. I will let you die like the dog you are, Uchiha." the pink-haired kunoichi announced her intentions firmly to the face of her expressionless captor and Deidara was hard pressed not to snigger softly to the side. Only the somberness of the situation prevented him from snorting with quiet disbelief. It was obvious to him now that the girl was trying her best to kill herself; she was certainly going all out to tweak the tiger's tail, so as to speak.

But still Itachi didn't say anything, merely continued to look at her in a totally unimpressed manner and for a moment Sakura looked totally at a loss of what to do next. She had had this very impassioned speech planned in her head for the S-class missing nin ever since she left the gates of Konoha but the moment she saw him approaching her all the carefully-prepared words seemed to fly out of her mind until she had to improvise and she was starting to get the idea that she was making a muck out of trying to show him a composed yet defiant front. Utterly mortified by the possibility but not ready to give up just yet Sakura decided to try one last time for the perfect pitch.

"I don't owe you anything except to heal your eyes, and I will do only that." Sakura's bravery was sputtering weakly in the imposing force of his silence, and her strong tone was now noticeably softer. She sounded more like she was asking for his permission and that _would not do_. She growled inwardly and tried again. "You may be able to use your kekkei genkai once more but you know what? You aren't a god no matter how much you think you may be. One day someone stronger is going to get you and when that day comes I will be the first one to spit on your grave, just mark my words."

_That_ got a reaction.

Jaded crimson froze over and suddenly he _moved_. She was so stunned by the slight, almost impatient shift forward that she quickly threw herself backwards and grimaced in reaction. However no enraged Uchihas jumped down upon her throat and almost immediately she felt foolish. The sudden coughing fit from the other Akatsuki quickly told her that she had just been tricked and warily she looked up once more to meet Itachi's eyes.

They were looking straight at her now but those blood red orbs were once again bored-looking. Then as if he deemed her below his attention he shifted his gaze away and started to walk towards the edge of the clearing, his strides long and graceful. Deidara shot her stumped expression an amused look before he strolled after his partner at a more leisurely pace.

Itachi stopped at the edge of the clearing, and to her surprise he replied to her words.

"Only a fool would think himself infallible."

* * *

They had been traveling continuously for almost half a day. 

Sakura didn't think that she was going to be able to take it any longer. The insane pace that both Akatsuki set was unbelievably grueling even to a Jounin like her, but pride prevented her from saying anything about it. The men traveled in silence a few meters before her while she covered the back. It had been almost seven hours, but the two didn't even seem winded or look inclined to slow down anytime soon. They didn't even look behind to see if she was still following and Sakura gritted her teeth with frustration. The notion of a rest stop was tempting, but she would be damned if she had to be the first to speak to those two.

So with perspiration streaking her face and her color faring only slightly above the shade of a deathly pallor, she bit her lips in determination and pushed herself to her limits, chasing after the Akatsuki like hell on wheels. Inner Sakura shouted her encouragement from within, and Sakura took comfort in the fact that at least she wasn't totally alone. Narrowing her gaze until she could only see the backs of the two men before her, Sakura tried to force her mind away from her current arduous situation and to nicer thoughts. She promptly failed miserably. What nicer thoughts? Anything that came to mind immediately either caused her bittersweet twinges or outright anguish.

Sakura shook her head slightly to clear her mind of her depressing circumstance and thought that she heard a softly muttered curse up front. Then she literally ran into a warm body and quickly realized dazedly that her hearing was sound after all, and wondered belatedly what she was doing thinking such ridiculous thoughts when she should be recovering from the collision. She would have taken a deadly fall from the high forest canopy that they were traveling on had a pair of hands not reach out in time to steady her. She found that her mind was working extraordinarily slowly, and it took her awhile to realize that she was actually caught in the arms of one of the Akatsuki.

Her heart thudded loudly in her ears, taking her momentary rest to furiously pump blood to support her labored form. Now that she had stopped suddenly, her legs felt numb and rubbery. Sakura wanted to pull herself from the firm grasp of the male holding her upright but she was feeling so disgustingly tired that she didn't believe that she could find the strength to fulfill the simple action of lifting her head up see who had caught her.

Then her captor spoke and saved her the trouble, his cultured voice vibrating in her right ear as he shifted to get a better grip on her.

"Why didn't you tell us that you were struggling behind…un?"

By his side Uchiha Itachi did not say a word, but then he didn't need to. She could feel the weight of his stare like a ton of bricks falling upon her back. Sakura was almost tempted to close her eyes and feign unconsciousness. She was mortified to have landed herself in such a situation, and her pride stung fiercely in the face of her failure.

Unaware that her breaths were still coming in quick, harsh pants that moved her slender ribcage up and down in an almost rhythmic pattern, she started to struggle weakly against the other Akatsuki.

"Let me go." Deidara was quick to notice that the woman could still sound so demanding even when incapacitated. He snorted his answer. No.

"And let you fall on your face thirty feet below? I think not…un. I don't think that Uchiha would be very happy if that happened, pet."

He might as well be speaking to the wall for all the attention she paid him.

"I can stand on my own." The kunoichi insisted stubbornly against his chest as she tried to pull away from him. Still Deidara did not release his precarious hold on the girl, and he merely looked to his partner for instructions. Privately the blonde was surprised that she had actually survived this long given the hard pace that they had set; it had taken him almost three months to get used to the traveling pace when he first joined the mercenary organization. He had expected that she would beg for a rest stop at least a couple hours ago but she never did; and that revealed to both Akatsuki that she was actually hardier than her seemingly delicate body had implied her to be. This one has a strong willpower; the blonde had to grudgingly admit as he contemplated her exhausted form. She was certainly stubborn to the point of suicidal.

Eying Itachi once again, Deidara started to question his motives for pushing them so hard. Was he testing her or something? Though Deidara was aware that their high speed of travel wasn't totally unnecessary; they always do tend to ghost past hostile territories so as to avoid the needless confrontations with the pesky hunter-nins.

But then again, those oinin were only an inconvenience, not an outright threat.

It was a test, though for god-knows-what Deidara really had no idea and he wasn't really sure if he wanted to know either. A part of him wondered idly if Itachi was interested in the kunoichi physically but was quick to dismiss the notion. Rare as they were, the female company the Uchiha normally consorted with consisted of statuesque, elegant geishas who were subservient and passive. He would definitely not be sexually interested in stubborn pintsized pink-heads severely lacking in tact and self-preservation skills.

Therefore Deidara quickly concluded that the enigmatic Uchiha was purely interested in the girl only because of her powerful healing abilities, though he still could not explain why it was necessary to push the girl so hard. Still feeling slightly puzzled but not willing to think too hard about something that was of no consequence to himself, Deidara shrugged inwardly and continued to wait patiently for the Uchiha's instructions. Because she was Itachi's captive first and foremost, the Uchiha would have the final say in matters regarding the worn out kunoichi in his arms and the blonde would not interfere. That didn't mean that he couldn't meddle…a little.

"She should rest, un." The blonde provided helpfully when Itachi did not look like he was going to suggest anything anytime soon. "She looks dead on her feet and dead healers can't heal, can they? Maybe we could stop-"

"No. We are still in enemy territory." But the look in the calm crimson eyes told Deidara what had to be done.

"Right." The blonde agreed. "She can rest while we continue to travel."

Surprisingly, the kunoichi quickly caught on to his intention despite her overwhelming exhaustion. She stiffened in his firm hold and started to struggle weakly in earnest. It wasn't hard to see that she clearly didn't relish the notion of being vulnerably unconscious in the presence of two notorious members of the Akatsuki. Deidara couldn't blame her really.

"No…!" Sakura burst out as she tried to put distance between herself and Deidara. She failed miserably the first time around but she immediately gathered her last burst of strength for a second try. Deidara quickly found himself with his hands full. The kunoichi was really distressed by the situation, and the more compassionate part of the blonde wasn't exactly very comfortable with that. So far she had shown exceptional mental strength in a situation where most females would have fallen apart in long ago and it didn't seem right to him that she was to be treated so callously. The blonde Akatsuki was about to patiently explain to the panicking female that no harm would befall her in her state of reposeful rest when his silent partner reacted with a lightning speed.

With one swift glance of an angled palm against the back of her neck Itachi easily shut down her chakra point accurately and the pink-haired kunoichi immediately went slack in his arms. Deidara promptly shot the dispassionate male a dirty look.

"She's going to have one hell of a headache when she wakes up." The blonde muttered what they both knew. That particular chakra gate was located on a major artery that provided blood to the brain, and the reduced blood flow from Itachi's solid hit was going to cause the medic-nin more than a little discomfort later. Itachi didn't look like he cared one way or another, and Deidara sighed loudly with exasperation.

"Why am I babysitting your prisoner?" The blonde demanded then. "She's yours; not mine, and I think you should start taking responsibility now." Without further ado Deidara quickly foisted the dead weight of Sakura onto the remote Uchiha, ignoring the deadly stare his brash action had unwittingly invited. Deidara was more interested in trying not to snicker out loud at the blank, clueless look that flittered past the other male's face as he handled the unconscious female poorly. Then the placid mask quickly took over again, and Itachi stoically lifted Sakura in his arms, fitting her against his torso easily. Deidara was almost jealous of the Uchiha's careless grace. He moved like he swept women off their feet on a regular basis, which certainly wasn't true at all but the mental image did work to amuse the blonde. He didn't dare smile though; he was on dangerous ground with the Sharingan user as it is now and he didn't want to risk it.

Allowing a careless shrug, Deidara tilted his head towards their direction of travel, turquoise eyes gleaming slightly.

"Let's go, then."

* * *

_::tsuzuku::_


	6. Chapter 6

**Juxtaposition**

**Chapter 6**

Deidara was right; Sakura's head felt as though an entire building had collapsed upon it when she regained consciousness almost a day later. Her head pounded fiercely, her eyesight was a little funny and it took her awhile before she could focus properly again. Her limbs ached something fierce and her eyes were gritty from the unnatural slumber that had been forced upon her. All in all she was feeling utterly, utterly wretched, and adding to the fact that she was still emotionally drained…

She emitted a soft, pitiful whimper.

Sakura felt so crappy that she thought that she probably looked the part as well. She could have easily healed the horrible pain in her head but she was feeling so miserable with herself that she decided to let the pain be. Forcefully pushing the throbbing discomfort aside Sakura opted to focus on her surroundings instead.

She was lying on a bed and it was blessedly dark. A further visual scan of her new environment told her that she was in a room (an inn maybe?) and that she was all alone. Sakura was privately thankful for that; she really didn't know what she would do if she opened her eyes to the creepy sight of two Akatsuki staring at her as she slept on in innocent oblivion.

Then again, she probably wouldn't be caught dead relaxing in the presence of those mercenaries if she hadn't been made to fall unconscious. Her pretty features immediately contorted to a fierce scowl. She remembered that Deidara had been restraining her with both of his hands; that meant that the bloody Uchiha bastard had been the one to deliver the blow to the base of her skull. No wonder her head hurt like hell now; he probably relished causing her pain and suffering. Morbidly, Sakura tried to be optimistic and told herself that at least the Sharingan user hadn't tried to strangle her to unconsciousness.

With the dour thought in mind Sakura attempted to sit up gingerly, wincing a little as the pain made itself more pronounced. Her head swam threateningly as she carefully made it through the transition from lying to sitting and when she had done so her stomach promptly emitted a soft gurgle of hunger. Sakura grimaced.

Now that her eyes were slowly accustomed to the darkness, Sakura was almost certain that she was in a hotel room. She had been lying on a single bed nearest to the floor to ceiling curtain-drawn windows and there was another bed right beside hers. There was also a dresser, a wooden cupboard, and she thought that she saw a mini-fridge neatly hidden below the counter near the entrance of the room.

Sakura's stomach growled hungrily once more, and the pink-haired kunoichi got herself to stand up shakily. She didn't dare to use her chakra to heal herself just yet; the brain was a tricky thing and she didn't think that she was in the condition to do any complicated healing at the moment, not even if it was her own head that she was talking about. Sakura wasn't even confident that she could use chakra without retching, but she was determined to try anyway. Taking deep breaths, the kunoichi closed her eyes and slowly expanded her senses to her surroundings, trying to check for threats. She could detect no chakra signatures other than that of her own, but then again, the two Akatsuki she was with were definitely powerful enough to mask their energy.

Sakura sighed softly as a wave of homesickness washed through her, leaving her feeling weak and upset again. She must be the most incompetent traitor in the whole world. Not even a couple of days have passed and she was yearning to go home already.

A part of her was tempted to be reckless and throw caution to the wind but the practical side of her was quick to intervene. Sakura was finding it very hard to adjust to the cold, bare fact that she was betraying her country every second she was here and it was so very tempting for her to walk out the entrance of the room which she was very sure was not locked at all. Before Sakura knew what she was doing her legs were already moving, shuffling slowly towards the beckoning wooden fixture.

She wasn't really going to escape, of course, Sakura defended herself mentally. She was just going out for a breath of fresh air. The darkness in this room felt so oppressing, and it reminded her at every turn of her disloyalty, her unwilling descend into the metaphorical darkness. She really needed to get out of here and she needed to do it now.

Ignoring the hunger pangs that were wrecking havoc in her stomach, Sakura moved with increasing speed past the counter and towards the door. She wrapped her hand around the cool metal doorknob and let out a shaky breath. She must be delirious. Her head was still throbbing something fierce but Sakura was determined to ignore it. She twisted the knob and pulled open the door, her eyes taking a moment to adjust to the sudden light entering her retinas as she did so.

She quickly found herself staring down a short, but completely deserted corridor. A few doors lined the hall but none opened at the disruption that she had caused when her own clicked open. The pink-haired kunoichi immediately stepped out of her room, closing the door soundlessly behind her. Her internal clock told her that it was a little after midnight; for everything was silent and she could hardly hear any movement around her. All the better for her then, Sakura thought as she tread soundlessly towards the end of the corridor and down the flight of stairs. She determined enough that they were on the second floor of the establishment and as she cleared the last step Sakura was pleased to see that her guess had been correct after all; they were in an inn.

The lodge was small and modest, and Sakura could see that the darkened ground floor was occupied by a tiny dining area as well as a mini lounge for weary travelers to rest in. There was no one manning the small reception area; in fact Sakura could sense no one here at all and the relieved kunoichi immediately ghosted across the darkened hall and through the exit of the inn.

Just for some fresh air, Sakura told herself once more as she stepped out into the open. She still had no idea where she was and when her eyes readjusted to the velvety darkness once again it was an entire stretch of forest that she saw, not the streets of a town or village like she had expected. No wonder the air smelt so clean, the kunoichi thought as she wondered bewilderingly what an inn was doing situated in the middle of a forest. Then she quickly decided that they must be somewhere on a well-traveled route.

Sakura did not know for how long she had stood before the entrance of this tiny lodge, enjoying the soothing silence of the night. Now that she was looking at the edge of a thick forest she really hadn't meant to wander off at first. But then the cool night breeze had felt so good against her senses and had even managed to help settle the awful nausea her head had caused to her that Sakura could not help but take a few steps out to greet the inviting trees just beyond the inn parameters.

She knew that it was probably a foolish thing to do, wandering out to the dangerous forest with no weapons whatsoever especially when she was still a little slow in reaction, but Sakura quickly quieted the protests from her more logical side and told herself that she wasn't going to venture too far away, that she was just going to rest against the trunk of one of those massive trees situated just at the edge of the forest. Besides, for all she knew this might just be the last time that she would be allowed the freedom to do something like this again.

If those Akatsuki wanted to stop her, then they will jolly well have to come out now to dissuade her themselves.

The pink-haired kunoichi had no idea where the two whom she had been traveling with were but she was glad that they were not here, at any rate. Defiantly, Sakura headed away from the safety of the building and further into the darkness of the forest, and when she finally turned back she could barely make out the vague outline of the inn. She needed a little respite from everything, that's all, and this temporary sanctuary that she had found will just have to do. Casting her chakra out once more to sense for danger and detecting none, the kunoichi was about to settle down against a gigantic tree trunk over to her right when she heard something.

It was a soft rustle from the tall bushes directly in front of her.

The kunoichi froze. Then slowly, she turned her entire attention to that clumps of vegetation, the look in her eyes wary, her stance poised for flight. Sakura did not know what to expect but she did not want to be caught unaware either. She eyed the dense plants hard for a good long while. It could not be Itachi…could it?

No, it couldn't be. It was definitely below the Uchiha's dignity to be caught hiding behind bushes.

"Who's there?" Sakura croaked out her first words since she woke up. Predictably there was no reply, and the bushes remained as still as before.

Maybe it had been some insects, Sakura thought optimistically. Maybe she was jumping too quickly to conclusions; hadn't she sensed no danger awhile ago? She wasn't that incompetent to make a rookie mistake like that.

Still, Sakura wanted to make sure that her worries were unfounded. After all, complacency kills. It had been one of the first rules taught to all ninjas even when they were still attending the Academy and Sakura had no intention of forsaking that important lesson. The kunoichi started to approach the vegetation slowly, her sandaled foot barely making a sound as she neared the dense growth of bushes causing her so much anxiety. Taking a deep breath, Sakura was about to push aside the heavy branches when without warning a blur exploded violently from the greenery, shocking her completely and knocking her to the ground. The kunoichi recovered from the surprise attack and rolled to her feet immediately, emerald eyes wildly scanning about her surroundings for the enemy.

A low, threatening snarl shattered the once peaceful silence of the forest.

Sakura could not believe her eyes as she stared at the huge, dark form standing nary a few feet away from her.

It has got to be the largest wolf that she had ever saw.

Sakura gaped stupidly at the deadly creature before her, but even as fear inundated her senses she could not help but admire the huge, regal beast. Belatedly the kunoichi thought that it must be the leader of its pack; it was so huge that it had got to measure at least six feet in length when fully stretched out. The animal let out a terrifying sound again, deep and low and sounding like something from the darkest pits of hell.

Sakura could feel the hair at the back of her neck stand up. Why, oh why, did she have to come out here again? Now she was definitely going to be dog food for sure.

The monolithic wolf was black as night, its dark eyes wild and feral. Its hackles were raised and its lips were pulled back to reveal rows of sharp, dangerous teeth. It was fairly trembling with the excitement of the hunt, and Sakura thought that she could see the sleek musculature of the powerful beast from its broad chest to its gleaming haunches.

Wait. Gleaming?

"You are hurt." Sakura should feel foolish talking to an animal but somehow everything was starting to make sense. Why an wolf, a creature normally so wary of humans, was so near a human settlement and even going so far as to confront her when it should have taken flight by now. Sakura warily ripped her eyes from the wolf's and accessed the damage done to it, all the while keeping part of her attention firmly on the threat as she quickly did so. She promptly winced in sympathy. Its left haunches looked as if it had been ripped to shreds, and there was so much blood that she didn't quite understand how he was still standing. He must have gotten into the worse end of a fight.

Sakura knew that the best thing for her to do now would be to back off slowly and immediately return to the safety of the inn but a visual scan of the beast's injury told her that he would die soon of blood loss if nothing was done to heal him. Sakura stared at the proud animal once more, took in the way it was shaking fiercely but yet still not giving up to its inevitable fate. It had got to know that it was dying, but yet it was still going to put up a fight.

_That_, struck a chord within the kunoichi.

Sakura did not know how she was going to help the gigantic wolf but she was determined to try anyway. Treating animals were a lot harder than treating humans; not even a tame beast would understand the unwanted pain that would accompany a healing and would lash out when in agony. A wild and feral animal like the wolf she had decided to heal would definitely be of no exception.

As Sakura tried to make herself look as unthreatening as possible she wondered what it was about her that made her act so suicidal and reckless. She took a small step forward, both hands splayed palm out to show that she was not carrying any weapons.

The wolf's ears flattened against its skull, and its whole body arched low over the ground in a feral attack stance. Sakura stopped moving. The animal might be in grave pain and might even look somewhat desperate at the moment but Sakura was not stupid enough to think that it is harmless. The animal could easily rip out her throat in the span between now and the time it takes to die.

Once again the kunoichi asked herself why she was making life so difficult for herself.

"Hush, please." Sakura whispered softly to the distressed animal. She decided to try another approach. Sakura slowly lowered herself onto a crouched position, watching the huge wolf as she did so. It looked at her movement with narrowed, suspicious eyes but didn't make any more of those horrifying, chest rattling sounds. Sakura was immediately encouraged by that positive, albeit very small development. She stayed in her position for a moment and continued talking to the animal, nonsensical words that didn't really make much sense but did help to soothe her frazzled wits.

It was working on the wolf too, if the way its eyes slowly slipped shut after awhile of her babbling were of any indication. Then again, the way it was relaxing might be because of the fact that he was rapidly losing the fight. Sakura was immediately concerned when still panting harshly, the limbs of the huge animal refused to support its weight any longer, and with a soft yelp it collapsed painfully onto the ground. The kunoichi crawled towards the downed animal immediately, her worry for its current state of wellbeing overriding her natural wariness of it. She reached its side in matter of seconds, and not even stopping once to consider how the wolf would definitely measure taller than her own less than impressive height if it was standing on its hind legs Sakura started to reach for its injury.

The low, weak growl coming from the deep chest of the animal had her pausing- for a moment. Sakura recovered quickly and promptly snapped at the wolf to quit its bluster. She might be top medic-nin in Konoha but no one ever said that she had excellent bedside manners to go with it. Already rather rattled by the animal, her temper was already fraying and she simply didn't have the capability to juggle this many emotions while still worrying about its injury.

To her surprise the animal fell silent.

She shot a quick glance to the beast. It was feebly holding its head up and for a brief moment emerald locked onto onyx. Sakura could see wariness in its eyes, not to mention exhaustion and pain. There was also something else there too; something wild and untamed and it told her that it would not hesitate to use its last burst of strength to attack if she did anything to abuse its temporary truce with her.

Sakura marveled at its intelligence, and quickly decided that she couldn't find any regrets for deciding to help this animal after all. The first to turn away from the animal's eyes, Sakura immediately went to work on its injury. The wound was very bad, and Sakura could see the gore and even large chunks of its thigh bone that the ravaged flesh failed to hide. Blood was still pumping sluggishly through that wound and once again the kunoichi flinched inwardly; it must be in such great agony.

Well, but not for long. There were quite a few ways to treat a wound like that but judging by their location and the species of her patient she had no choice but to narrow it down to only one. Sakura's chakra levels weren't exactly back to normal yet but she knew that they could be easily repleted after a good rest. With that in mind, Sakura gently laid her hands over the large wound and started to summon her energy for the healing.

Because of the fact that her chakra was meant to heal human beings and not animals, the initial strength of her power would cause quite some discomfort to the wolf and Sakura had worried that it would retaliate. To her surprise once more the animal did no such thing, merely laid its great head back onto the ground with its dark eyes closed. Sakura was grateful for the relaxed pose the great animal was in; its non-attacking stance freed her from having to eye the animal worryingly as she continued her energy-consuming healing.

Once she was sure that the initial pain had faded Sakura immediately pushed more chakra into the animal's system, forcing the flesh to knit, and blood vessels to mend together. Unaccustomed to healing animals Sakura pumped more of her energy into the wolf than needed and quickly found herself exhausted especially since she had not yet fully recovered from her ordeal the day before. The kunoichi did not care though; merely continued healing the animal until she could see the wound close completely and handsome black fur grow back onto the once destroyed thigh.

Because of the fact that a weak predator could hunt not at all, Sakura opted to spend the last of her chakra rebuilding the wolf's feeble blood supply. She did her best until she was almost sure that his system was functioning healthily again before pulling her remaining energy back into her body exhaustedly. She had been crouching earlier; but now she was sitting slumped beside the animal and Sakura could rapidly feel the dark circle encompassing her vision rapidly. The kunoichi immediately cursed herself for over expanding her energy once more even though a great part of her was delighted as she saw the great beast beside her take to its feet shakily.

It was good then, Sakura thought as sleep hovered in the back of her mind, he would live to see another day, this wolf who refused to give up even when hope was dim.

The animal was supporting itself steadily now and was turning to look at her. Emerald eyes were dull but gleamed unmistakably with tired good-natured humor.

"Try not to get into another fight then, wolf."

The last thing she saw were the pair of animalistic onyx eyes, staring into hers as darkness overtook her and dragged her fully into unconsciousness.

* * *

She was the most idiotic woman he had ever met. 

He wondered how she had survived this long as a kunoichi, let alone one of Jounin level. It was becoming rapidly clear to him that she lacked common sense and didn't even possess the basic self-preservation skills inherent to a gnat.

He had sensed her moving about ever since she had woken up from the exhaustive rest forced upon her because of her foolish pride. Predictably she had failed to detect his presence but he had not expected that she would dare venture out of her room. She did, of course, despite possessing full knowledge that she was his captive first and foremost and was still so pitifully weak that anybody in her position would have stayed put in the room to rest and to obtain sustenance.

Obviously no one had informed this famous medic-nin regarding the norm for recovering from over exhaustion.

So she had crept out of her room like a thief and he should have appeared then to stop her, but curiosity had stayed his hand. He had wanted to know what her intentions were. Was she thinking to escape him? That it would be so easy for her to run off now that she was sitting in the palm of his hand? If that was so, he would wait and catch her in the act, and the punishment would be a lesson she would never forget. She would learn that her life was his now, his to do anything as he pleases. His to crush at will.

And so he had watched silently with mild disbelief and growing irritation as the reckless woman ventured stupidly out of the inn and into the forest, weaponless and with rapidly fluctuating chakra that even he could sense from a distance away. It was obviously going to be the most pathetic escape attempt that he had ever seen.

Then he had watched with Sharingan eyes as she hurried into the forest and quickly came to a stop not a hundred meters away from the inn, and he had watched with mild incredulity as the foolish female appeared to all the world to be preparing to take a rest against one of the gigantic trees around her. Itachi wasn't stupid, and he quickly caught on to the fact that he had been mistaken about her escape attempt. No, she wasn't going to do what any sane captive would do when given the perfect opportunity; the woman was just deciding to take a stroll around the dangerous forest in the middle of the night while weaponless and possessing unstable chakra.

Itachi had enough of watching the kunoichi's stupidity anymore and he didn't think that he would be able to hold on to the blank dispassionate façade of his when he confronted her. He was a genius by nature and he could hardly tolerate idiocy. What the medic-nin was doing now was beyond stupid and that annoyed the Akatsuki because she was supposed to be quite a smart kunoichi, if the files that he had read about her were to be trusted.

It was just too bad that he hadn't seen evidences of her reported genius just yet.

The S-class missing-nin was about to reveal his presence to the kunoichi and end her little jaunt out in the woods when he detected the wolf a scant second before Sakura heard the rustling bushes. He watched keenly as she paled at the sudden noise and immediately changed his decision of appearing before the foolish woman to scare her back into the inn. A normal person in a situation like hers would have fled to safety now, but then again, he was learning that Sakura wasn't exactly normal.

And so once again, Itachi watched with growing incredulity as she fearfully approached the hidden animal, and was about to grab the idiot woman to safety when the desperate beast slammed her onto the ground in an effort to get away from her. Itachi didn't pay attention to the wolf, only to the shocked female. Her face was deathly white; especially even more so under the moonlight and it did not take a genius to see that she was scared to death of the wolf. He was very certain that she would flee for her life now, but as usual, nothing seemed to go his way whenever it came to this particular kunoichi and before he knew it he was watching with disbelief as she started to talk to the huge, dangerous animal, slowly inching towards it as she did so.

She couldn't be thinking to heal the hulking, deadly beast, could she?

She did.

For the first time in his life Itachi found himself hard-pressed not to reach for the woman and shake some sense into her. Only the fact that she was now kneeling besides the dangerous animal halted his intention to take her away. As unguarded as the feral animal might be now, any sudden movement would cause it to attack and he did not want to risk the medic just yet. He still needed her healing expertise, at any rate.

And so he had watched as she healed the wild wolf, watched from a distance as her brow furrowed with concentration as she took not more than five minutes to completely seal the gaping wound that would have killed the animal had she not intervened.

He did not understand her at all. The animal was a natural predator of humans, and possessing no human emotions of conscience and gratitude would surely turn on her when given the opportunity. She has got to know that. But still, she was going against everything that she had been taught since young, pitting herself against the injured defenses of the desperate animal just so that she could be allowed to heal him. She was either really without any common sense or just incredibly selfless and softhearted.

Itachi could not help but see the similarities between her healing the wolf and her healing of him a scant month ago. She could have left him to die as she should, but she didn't, and maybe that was what had sparked his interest in her. Her sense of honor was the oddest he had ever encountered in a person before, and her ideals were so innocent and ridiculously moralistic that he could not understand how on earth they could have survived in a world as harsh as theirs for as long as they did. She really was an oddity, something that did not fit in the mold meant for her position and he had to admit that she was indeed worthy of capturing his attention like no other could. Foolish or no, she was now his to control, and he would be allowed the pleasure of analyzing this kunoichi until he had cracked open all her secrets, until he knew her unique character like the back of his hand, until he could understand the driving force behind her seemingly selfless acts.

She was withdrawing her spent energy from the wolf now, and he watched as tired delight filled her dull emerald gaze as she saw the huge black wolf stand up unsteadily and seem to easily shake off the rest of his painful encounter but minutes ago. The animal was truly gigantic for one of its kind, and powerfully muscled too.

It could hurt her very badly now that it has healed fully, even kill her with a single blow across her fragile neck.

Somehow he wasn't surprised to hear her affectionately mumbling something to the wolf yet again before falling backwards in a dead faint.

Hovering over her, the pitch black behemoth of a wolf completely obscured the form of the pink-haired kunoichi, and that was the cue for Itachi to slide into action. It was going to be such a pity that he would be the one to slaughter the animal that she had worked so hard to save. The wolf was showing every indication of hurting the girl, and that he could not allow.

_No one could hurt her, but him_.

The Uchiha dropped silently from the tree branch that he had been perched on, landing noiselessly onto the ground not a few feet away from the animal and the passed out kunoichi. Probably the alpha of the pack, the wolf was smart though, and very alert despite its apparent curiosity over the human female who had so easily took his pain away. As inherent to all animals, its instincts had sensed the danger even before the Akatsuki had decided to show himself, and the animal lifted its great head to regard the threat.

Onyx met onyx.

The animal didn't snarl, didn't bare its fangs, and Itachi made no move to approach it and the woman whom it was guarding. The Uchiha released his suppressed chakra though, allowing the cold, precise power to flow off him. He did not take his blank stare away from the wolf, and after what seemed like a long moment, the animal blinked and looked away.

Itachi took the first step forward.

The wolf bared his teeth.

He narrowed his eyes.

The animal did not look like it was going to back down from its prize for a brief moment, but then in the next second the huge wolf was gone, loping away from the small clearing in a graceful flash of ebony.

Itachi continued walking towards the unconscious kunoichi until his booted feet nudged her sandaled ones. Then he stared at her for a long time, clinically taking in the exhaustion that smudged the ring of her eyes, the pallor of her skin, the way the corner of her lips were slightly pinched with fatigue.

She was definitely more trouble than she was worth.

Yet the Akatsuki found himself lowering to a crouch, his proud knees bending as he brought himself nearer to this irritating nuisance he refused to rid himself of. Her soft pink hair glimmered gently under the moonlight, and the color mesmerized him. Would those strands be as silky as they looked; and never one to deny himself the Uchiha lifted a hand to her head, fingering a lock of the smooth strands between his thumb and forefinger. It was.

The winds picked up then, bone chilling in the darkness of the early morning. His curiosity satisfied, Itachi released the wispy strands of her hair and easily picked up her limp form in his arms. She was thin, and he wasn't at all surprised by her slight form if she kept draining her chakra thusly like he was beginning to suspect her to.

The Uchiha was about to move towards the inn when she stirred. He looked down at her just in time to catch her fluttering lids open to reveal vivid emerald eyes that were still slightly glazed from exhaustion.

"…wolf?"

Her thick murmur of confusion did nothing to move him, and he continued staring at her, inwardly wondering about her possible reaction when she finally realized her position with him.

Through the hazy vision and the semi-darkness of the moonlit night Sakura could only see the intense pair of onyx eyes staring down at her. Her wolf was still here, looking down upon her with that remote, fierce gaze. Belatedly she felt a burst of gladness for having saved a creature like him.

"…such pride…"

Maybe her mind was too exhausted for her to be thinking properly; maybe she didn't care anymore, but the urge to touch the regal, untamed being before her was so overwhelming that she didn't think to fight it. She wanted to feel the silkiness of its dark snout, feel its reassuring breath as its wet nose snuffled against her palm. Squinting her eyes a little and judging the distance blindly Sakura reached her arm out, her slender hand cupped slightly as she reached for the curve of its jaw.

To her surprise the texture under her palm wasn't furred like she had expected, but smooth and silky. Sakura was too befuddled at that point to think too much about that odd quality of the wolf. She was feeling too delighted that it had allowed her to touch it.

Her eyes lit up with such sweet joy that he did not know what to make of it. The brilliant emeralds shone with such intensity and he had never seen anything like it before. His grip tightened slightly on her and he could not pull his gaze away from hers, totally mesmerized by the foreign look directed at him. There was such innocent happiness there…and pure tenderness…

Her cool, slender hand slipped back down from his cheek to rest placidly against her abdomen.

"This is great. You are really alright then…"

Her mumbles faded away as exhaustion slowly started to reclaim her consciousness once more. Her stunning eyes finally slipped shut, and her head lolled gently against the crook of his shoulder.

"Stay strong, my beautiful wolf…"

* * *

_::tsuzuku::_


	7. Chapter 7

**Juxtaposition**

**Chapter 7**

Sakura did not want to wake up.

Unfortunately for her, her strands of long pink hair did not share the same view as she did. The kunoichi was determined to remain deeply asleep but her hair kept flying into her face and tickling her nose no matter how hard she tried to evade them. It was enough to make her consider chopping off those troublesome waist length tresses of hers.

With a soft exhalation of irritation, the pink-haired kunoichi started to turn to her side only to find that she could not. Eyes still closed in sleep, her brows furrowed together in confusion. She can't move? Blindly she turned her head to the side and succeeded in nudging her nose against a warm surface. Hmm. Curiouser and curiouser.

Still Sakura couldn't seem to bring herself to open her eyes, and so she remained as she was, body slightly curled up and head turned to the addictive warmth. She inhaled deeply and pressed her cheek against the hard surface, nuzzling her nose lazily against it in the process. Odd, but the scent of rainwater was so strong. Somewhere in the fuzzy recesses of her mind Sakura wondered just what kind of detergent the inn uses on their bed sheets; the smell was deliciously pleasing.

Then her hair flew into her face again, and Sakura forgot about that train of thought. The kunoichi huffed softly and tried to burrow her face deeper into the warm sheets. She took a deep breath again and relaxed at the wonderful scent once more. Inner Sakura was trying to tell her something but she was feeling just too contented to bother with her alter ego's petty concerns. Her stomach growled with hunger and Sakura ignored that too; she was just too comfortable where she was to even open her eyes, let alone to want to move about to look for food. Utterly contented she started to sink even deeper into slumber.

Belatedly she thought she heard masculine laughter.

How odd, Sakura thought blearily even as she slowly descended into the welcoming arms of blissful darkness, who was laughing in her room?

"She's as affectionate as a little kitten now, un? I wonder how she would react when she knows that she's in your arms, Uchiha."

* * *

Sakura was beyond mortified when she finally awoke a couple of hours later. 

Her little nap had been a good one, only slight shadowed by the nagging memory of the sentence that she had last heard before she fell asleep. She hadn't bothered to decipher the meaning earlier; she had been too tired to care or even move, but the moment she woke up now, well rested and ready to go her mind quickly presented the problem to her.

And it was a big problem.

Inner Sakura laughed evilly at her other half.

The pink-haired kunoichi could still feel the sleek, hard warmth against where her cheek was resting and now that she was fully aware of her own body once more it quickly occurred to her that she was being carried in an astoundingly intimate manner. She could feel what must be an arm under her bended knees and another supporting her shoulders. They were pressing her against what she now realized was the muscular chest of a man. Even without her eyes open she knew that they were on the move. She could feel his muscles bunch and relax as they traveled speedily, the wind blowing her hair all over the place.

Sakura was praying with all her heart that she wasn't in the arms of Uchiha Itachi.

Timidly, the kunoichi opened her eyes. Light filtered into her retinas slowly and Sakura was immediately presented with the sharp, angular features of her captor. While Sakura gaped with dismay, the Sharingan user ignored her alarmed stare and instead continued looking forward like she was below his attention. They were traveling on the dense forest canopy once again, and Sakura was too preoccupied with her shock to notice anything else.

She was in the arms of Uchiha Itachi.

Her small form started to stiffen in his arms, and Sakura had only one thing in her mind at the moment.

"Crap."

She didn't even realize that she had blurted out the blasphemy loudly until he fixed his crimson stare on her. Sakura looked at though she was about to faint as his detached gaze met her stupefied ones, but then he turned his attention back to the surroundings once more, leaving her to her own devices and completely ignoring her once again.

Sakura didn't know what to do. Her mind still felt as though it was stuffed with cotton wool and for the life of her she could not even form a plan to get out of this very surreal situation. She stiffened even further and started to tremble faintly despite her best efforts. This was seriously scaring her.

"Kunoichi. Don't make me drop you."

Hearing his soft, tenor drawl vibrate from his chest was a very odd experience, and Sakura could only look dumbly at the Uchiha, who was once again, not looking at her. She didn't know what to make of his short sentence. Was it a threat or what?

"Oh, the little pet is awake." Deidara came into view beside Itachi and easily matched his pace. Sakura flickered a glance at the cheerful blonde, then fixed her wary gaze back at the silent Uchiha.

"Let me go." A little intimidated to be found in the arms of her enemy, Sakura's request was hardly audible. And her voice cracked pitifully. The pink-haired kunoichi winced inwardly. Just for how long had she been asleep?

She vaguely remembered walking out of the inn in the middle of the night and healing the injured wolf and barely anything else. Sakura quickly decided that she must have fainted outside and one of them had found her. She was actually quite surprised that they haven't questioned her about her motives for leaving their temporary lodging.

Deidara made a soft sound of derision. "You are too weak to keep up with us, pet." The blonde spoke kindly. "You have not eaten for two days. Does your head still hurt?"

Sakura, who had been determined to harden her heart against all the members of Akatsuki, could not help but respond to the mild concern in his voice. She turned her gaze to the Iwa missing-nin and for the first time since leaving Konoha, Sakura acknowledged the blonde. The pink-haired kunoichi shook her head slightly.

"It doesn't hurt anymore." She hesitated a moment before continuing politely, albeit a little stiffly. "Your concern is appreciated, Deidara."

The blonde Akatsuki grinned boyishly at her. "So you remembered me after all, un. I thought you forgot."

Sakura was actually surprised that he recognized her even after five years. The look on her face must have revealed to him her astonishment, for his grin widened.

"You managed to take down Sasori when you were only a Chuunin, pet. It wouldn't be…wise to forget you." Sakura did not know what to say about that, and so she kept quiet. Then Deidara continued, turquoise eyes twinkling. "Besides, your unique hair color makes it very hard to misplace you in my memory, un."

Sakura grimaced inwardly at the reference to her accursed pink hair. She nodded weakly.

Deidara took pity on Sakura. The poor kunoichi looked so green in the face that he wanted to laugh. He supposed that there was a reason why Uchiha Itachi did not make it a habit to carry around sleeping females. The bastard was so damned intimidating that his current captive looked as if she was going to fall unconscious again when she woke up and saw his scary face.

Sakura was pondering hard about how to get Itachi to let her down when the he suddenly descended from the canopy without warning. She inhaled sharply and instinctively grabbed hold of his robe. It was a sheer drop down and Sakura felt more than a little dizzy when he landed softly on the forested ground with Deidara beside him.

"Please…let go of me." Sakura muttered haltingly to her unresponsive captor as her stomach lurched queasily. "I think I'm going to be sick."

That got a reaction.

Sakura was lowered to stand on her own feet immediately. Unfortunately for her, her limbs were still asleep and she crumpled silently to the mossy ground. That was perfectly alright for the kunoichi, however. Sakura got on all fours and quickly turned away from the two Akatsuki. The kunoichi started to gag and because her stomach was empty, she only managed to dry heave, much to Sakura's relief. It was bad enough that she had fallen asleep in their presence, it would be even worse if she had to embarrass herself again before them.

"I will backtrack and scout the area, un." Sakura vaguely heard Deidara speak above her misery. She didn't hear Itachi's reply though, but she was feeling too miserable to care. Her stomach protested and roiled and she had to breathe slowly through her nose to ease her discomfort.

Sakura felt her stomach settle eventually, and drew a shaky breath before sitting down exhaustedly. A pair of booted feet came into her line of vision and Sakura lifted her head up. Wretched emerald met dispassionate crimson. Itachi lowered himself to a crouch and Sakura eyed him warily.

She tried her hardest not to be surprised when he held out a small flask as well as a couple of apples. Then her eyes flew up to his, as if searching for an explanation. He offered none, and after some careful contemplation, Sakura lifted her hand and took the container from him. She didn't think she could eat anything _and_ keep it down yet, so she rejected the fruits.

She unscrewed the thermos slowly and poured some of its contents onto the cup cover. It was plain water, and Sakura was inwardly relieved. Water was easier to check for poison then any other beverages, and her throat suddenly began to ache fiercely for the sweet, thirst-relieving liquid. She didn't dare drink yet though, didn't even dare to sniff the clear water for any scent of poison. Why? _He_ was still in front of her, less than a foot away and in the same crouching position. The apples were now sitting on the ground between them, and he was looking at her with those unrevealing eyes. She lowered the cup and stared cautiously at him, wondering to herself what he was trying to prove by unnerving her.

Seconds ticked by and he still didn't say a thing. She was starting to want to fidget, and quickly losing her patience.

"What?" A mere thirty seconds after his silent scrutiny, she could not take it any longer and burst out in question. He eyed her impertinence blankly, and a dismayed Sakura was about to think that he was going to spend the rest of this little rest break analyzing her like she was some alien creature suddenly dropped upon the face of this earth. Then he blinked, and that intense, probing stare of his was shifted to their surroundings and Sakura almost wilted with relief.

The pink-haired kunoichi lifted her cup slowly and took a discreet sniff. It was odorless. But then there were a lot of other poisons that produced no smell with reacted with water-

She squeaked when his hand came up to hers and relieved her of the cup. Then making sure that her attention was fully on him, Itachi raised the cup to his lips in an elegant motion. Sakura watched as he drank, his tilted head revealing a long expense of throat. The pink-haired kunoichi became strangely entranced by the way his Adam's apple moved; her emerald eyes watching intently as it slid up once, before lazily returning to its original position. Having proved to Sakura that the water is in no way poisoned, Itachi lowered the cup and held it out to her silently.

Sakura was so dazed by his actions that she took the cup cover from him without thinking. His attention was fully focused on her once again, and the pink-haired kunoichi grimaced when she realized her situation. Great, so the water wasn't poisoned, but he had drank from the cup and was she expected to finish the rest of the water left within?

A part of her wanted to pour away the rest of the water thanks to the childish belief of cooties and whatnots, but with the Uchiha so near her and staring at her blatantly she really didn't dare, not to mention that it really was a childish action. And so Sakura lifted the cup to her mouth and took a sip.

The water was tepid from the heat but she didn't care at the moment. The dried membranes in her mouth soaked up the life-giving liquid gratefully, and Sakura quickly forgot the fact that she had been sharing a cup with Uchiha Itachi. She quickly took another mouthful of water, then another and before she knew it she had drained the entire cup. It was not enough though, and Sakura reached for the flask to pour herself another helping.

Once again, before she could bring the blessed liquid to her mouth that is, Sakura found the cup wrested from her fingers and quickly replaced by an apple. She stared at the fruit for a good three seconds before shaking her head at the Uchiha.

"We are moving out after Deidara ascertains that we are not being followed. You need to keep something substantial in your stomach or you will be sick again."

He made perfect sense, of course. But Sakura looked at the hard, unappetizing apple and couldn't seem to summon the appetite to eat it. Then she lifted her eyes and saw his dispassionate, unyielding crimson ones, and knew instinctively that she would be eating this fruit in the end whether she wanted it or not. She slumped slightly and brought the shiny apple to her mouth.

The first bite was hard on her. The malic acid made her grimace as it spread in her food-deprived mouth, but she forced herself to chew and swallow all the same. The second mouthful was a little better, and by her third mouthful she thought that the apple didn't taste quite as bad as she thought and her stomach was starting to growl with hunger once again. Before she knew it she had polished off the fruit, setting its core carefully to her side and picking up the next fruit to bite into, all under the watchful gaze of the Uchiha.

Sakura was still working on her last apple when Deidara finally returned, and the blonde raised his brow at the way he found his traveling companions. Sakura was sitting cross-legged on the ground doing her best to ignore the Uchiha, who was crouched less than a foot in front of her.

Itachi turned his attention to his partner, and silently tossed the flask to the blonde.

Deidara caught the water bottle easily and shook his head once before he unscrewed the flask and drank from the bottle. The simple affirmation was enough for the Uchiha. His cloak whispered as he got soundlessly to his feet, attention now fixed back upon the kunoichi.

"We will leave now."

Sakura nodded silently and set aside her apple core. Then she stood up slowly, limbs still a little rubbery from her long sleep. Deidara eyed her hesitant movements and exchanged another glance with the Sharingan user, one that Sakura missed. The pink-haired kunoichi stretched a little and tested her chakra. She was almost full up from her rest but still a little fuzzy. Healing the wolf must have taken more of her energy than she had thought possible.

Nonetheless Sakura believed that she could move on her own already though, and waited for the two Akatsuki to lead the way. She was slightly disconcerted to find the two pairs of eyes staring at her.

"Is there a problem?" She asked hesitantly. Sakura promptly winced inwardly at how cordial she sounded. Oh, she knew that she should be snapping and growling and showing hostility towards the two Akatsuki but she was emotionally exhausted and it took a lot out of her to show aggression towards others. There was a reason why she was a better medic-nin than a kunoichi, and it was really the truth that her Jounin status had been earned more from her exceptional healing abilities than her less combative side. Oh, she could protect herself sufficiently of course, and even carry out some A-rank missions but when it comes to no-holds barred; full out fights of savage aggression Sakura just could not do it.

Deidara was amused by how polite she seemed. Two days ago she had been so angry- and so determined to stay angry but he was beginning to realize that this little female seemed to lack the ability to properly hold a grudge. The bewildered kunoichi probably did not know how to react to them now that the hard edge of her fury had dulled.

"With your current condition you won't be able to keep up with our speed, pet." Deidara drawled out for Sakura when she still did not seem to realize that she was the problem. "You should spend the time resting-"

"Nobody is going to knock me out again." Her sudden outburst had the blonde blinking at her in surprise. The poor girl was looking suspiciously at an indifferent Itachi as if expecting him to come after her again. Deidara was in desperate need to laugh at the situation.

"No." Deidara agreed pleasantly. "We won't have to knock you out again- if you would just go along with our requests."

In all honesty, Deidara wasn't normally this nice to captives. He wasn't nearly as commanding as Itachi or even Zetsu of course, but he could be just as intimidating and as cruel when the need arises. Being part of the organization wasn't all fun and games, but Deidara simply couldn't find any pleasure in deriving pain from a kunoichi whom he had just learnt from Itachi was only here to protect her friends and family. Besides, she possessed character and a huge dollop of courage, a little too much perhaps, but she had struck a chord within him, and it didn't hurt the least that she made for extremely entertaining company as well.

Even as he was thinking said thoughts, the blonde could see the fire in her emerald eyes flare at his words. Yes, the amused Akatsuki mused inwardly, definitely too much foolish courage- and guilelessness. She was so expressive that it didn't take much to decipher the emotions written out so plainly on her face.

"I have my own pair of legs; I can travel very well on my own, thank you very much." Sakura had to work to keep her voice stable, but it was obvious from the utterly indignant look in her eyes that she was unhappy with Deidara's not very veiled threat. Belatedly it occurred to Deidara that she was probably the only captive in this world who would dare argue with them. Somehow the urge to grin became grew, and shrugging mentally the blonde gave in to said urge.

Sakura did not know what to make of Deidara's odd behavior. Why, he was smiling at her like she had done something very amusing, and unfortunately for him she really could not see anything funny with this situation.

"My chakra level is up to normal now." Sakura tried to make them see sense. She really had no intention of being carted around like a sack by either of the Akatsuki. "I am sure that I can-"

Itachi had enough of this situation. She was wasting away their daylight, and he would not allow anymore of this nonsense.

"Kunoichi." His lilting tenor, though soft and almost inaudible, completely cut through her attempted explanation like knife on butter. She fell silent immediately, and turned her gaze to him, her emerald eyes wary. It was obvious that she was frightened of him, but her emotional wellbeing or lack thereof was not his concern. If anything, he approved of her apprehension. It would certainly make dealing with her a lot easier for him.

"Come."

A single-worded command, and it was as if she had just been administered a shot of pure adrenaline. Still, Sakura was angered by his arrogant order. It was at the tip of her tongue to retort to the bastard Uchiha that she was not a pet dog but the hard look in his crimson eyes quickly put a stop to her defiance. Sakura had no choice but to keep her frustrations to herself, and with nary a whimper the pink-haired kunoichi started over to her tormentor.

Deidara thought that if looks could kill Kisame would be looking for partner by now. Sakura had 'obediently' made her way to Itachi, of course, but the look in her fiery emerald gaze told all that she was not happy about it at all. The kunoichi came to a stop right before the bored-looking Uchiha, her jaw clenched together and her eyes spitting fire. As usual, Itachi couldn't care less about her sporadic mood swings.

Sakura gasped when his hand came out suddenly from under his cloak and grabbed her by the wrist. Her anger quickly replaced with shock, she offered no resistance when he pulled her to him and in one swiftly executed maneuver Sakura found herself somewhat horizontal once more, and so snugly tucked against the apathetic male that her face burst into flames. She opened her mouth to say something but nothing came out.

Deidara could not help himself; he laughed at her. The damned blonde was still chuckling to himself when they started to move out, easily hopping from tree branch to tree branch as they ascended back to the dense canopy.

Sakura wanted very much to scream. She stared hard at the cloaked covered chest of Itachi and tried her very best not to think of her embarrassing position. She failed miserably and ended up glaring at the uncaring Uchiha.

"Let me down now, Uchiha." Sakura demanded when she had regained her composure. She wasn't very surprised when she found herself ignored. It made her even madder.

"Uchiha." The pink-haired kunoichi ground out. "Let me-"

She squeaked when he glared down at her with those fearsome crimson eyes.

"Silence, woman." His voice never rose beyond his normal pitch but even she could detect his irritation. She stared at him, wide-eyed. She was not the only one. Deidara quit laughing to stare at his partner with something akin to amazement in his turquoise gaze. Itachi completely disregarded the blonde, his attention fully focused on this loud, infuriating female who did not seem to possess a shred of common sense. Did she not realize that he could easily tear her apart within the blink of an eye?

"Make any more noise and I will carry you over my shoulder like a sack of rice, is that clear?"

Sakura's mouth snapped shut at his quiet threat, still a little stunned by his startling display of annoyance. She could only nod.

* * *

It had been mid noon when they stopped for Sakura earlier, and they had been traveling for more than four hours now. Dusk was setting in, and in a little while the velvety darkness of night would settle over them like a thick blanket. 

Sakura wondered if they were going to stop for the night. As ninjas she was aware that all of them were more than capable of traveling even in the darkness but it would certainly be more dangerous and S-class missing-nins or not, they were still human and definitely needed to rest to recharge their energy.

The pink-haired kunoichi wasn't about to ask though; she hadn't spoken to any of the two since the Uchiha's startling outburst and she wasn't planning to start right now. It had certainly been awkward for her at first, to have to keep quiet and behave docilely in the arms of one of the most wanted criminals in the five great countries but she quickly learned that she had no choice. She was their prisoner in all sense of the word, and fighting it wasn't going to change the fact anytime soon. Besides, she was bound to the deal that she had made with the Uchiha, and she was sensible enough to know that trying to resist the inevitable would do nothing but cause her more trouble in the end.

And so Sakura resigned herself to silently staring at the quickly passing scenery and trying her best to guess the direction in which they were heading. She found that they were heading west, though the terrain was unfamiliar to her and she didn't know exactly which land they were in now. They were certainly no longer in Konoha, that's for sure, and that thought sent a twinge of dismay straight to Sakura's heart.

Sakura divided her idle time between staring at the greenery and trying to analyze the two Akatsuki traveling with her. She had been inwardly impressed by their speed and stamina, and Sakura thought that they resembled a matched pair of thoroughbreds; strong, elegant…and impossibly alert. Without the need to wait for her to straggle after them they had moved even faster than she had thought possible, their faces expressionless and showing none of the fatigue that most men would have felt by now.

She also noticed that once every hourly she would see Deidara fade away into the trees only to reappear beside them fifteen minutes later. It didn't take her long to realize that the blonde had been backtracking and circling their trail to ensure that they were not being followed. It quickly occurred to Sakura that these Akatsuki were very good in what they do, and very, very cautious in all of their actions, which really explained why they were still alive even after being listed in the infamous Bingo book for so long.

And she was about to help one of them regain back his deadly prowess.

Sakura shivered inwardly and tried not to despair over her decision- and the consequences it would bring. She tried not to think of the lives she would be killing indirectly with her hands by helping this merciless, cold-blooded Uchiha. She tried not to think of her unwitting betrayal to her country, the stain to her honor. She really tried- and she failed miserably.

The poor kunoichi fell asleep worrying about her foolish bargain with the devil.

* * *

Sakura found herself roughly shaken awake a little while later. She jerked with surprise and struggled ungainly against the firm hold on her, forgetting for a moment that she was in the arms of Uchiha Itachi. His silent warning to halt her foolish behavior was to literally knock the breath out of her, and she coughed and gasped when he finally relaxed his hold. 

She did not appreciate his way of waking her up at all, but it was effective. When Sakura's watering eyes cleared sufficiently for her take note of her surroundings once more she saw that it was so dark that she had to squint to see her own hand, and that Itachi had come to a stop, standing stilly on one of the many thick branches on the high forest canopy. It didn't take Sakura long to realize that Deidara had disappeared again.

She frowned with confusion. Why weren't they moving?

"Take off your hitai-ite."

Sakura immediately lifted her gaze to the Uchiha, surprised by the odd request. She could barely glimpse of his pale face, and only saw with clarity the crimson Sharingan eyes. She wanted to open her mouth to ask why but he cut her off even before she could form her words.

"Now, Kunoichi."

His voice was barely a whisper, but Sakura sensed his growing impatience. Quietly, she lifted her hands to the back of her head and swiftly untied the knotted cloth, slipping her precious headband from her forehead. She quickly folded the clothed ends of the hitai-ite together before laying it on her lap. Her ready obedience satisfied him, and she found herself let down to stand on her own feet, much to her growing bewilderment. Have they reached the Akatsuki hideout already? Sakura looked downwards to the ground and around her but for the life of her she could not see anything that even vaguely resembled a dwelling.

"We have reached?" She whispered back, utterly baffled. And why did they have to speak in such low tones anyway?

"Suppress your chakra."

Yeah, his short and concise reply did wonders to soothe her confusion alright. Sakura narrowed her eyes slightly at the impassive male before her but what do you know, he merely stared back blankly at her.

Sakura gave up.

She obeyed his instruction and within a second he could no longer detect her energy signature.

Upon her acquiescence to his demand he motioned for her to follow him, easily descending towards the ground with the ease of a jungle cat, quick and noiseless. Sakura furrowed her brows and trailed after him a little slowly, her limbs slowing gaining back strength with use. She landed on the forest ground at the same time as he did, albeit not as graceful looking as he.

He turned on her so fast that she was taken aback, hard crimson eyes all but drilling holes into hers.

"Listen well, Kunoichi. You will stay hidden until either Deidara or I come for you. Conceal your hitai-ite. You are not to reveal your presence to anyone and you will not interfere in anything that you see. Is that clear?"

Sakura did not understand.

"But why-"

His terse one-word reply was more than answer enough.

"Hunter-nins."

Sakura could only stare at the Uchiha in shock. Hunter-nins? Hunter-nins?

"Hunter-nins?" She whispered bewilderedly.

Itachi took one look at the staggered kunoichi and narrowed his eyes. She was not going to be of any use to him if she were clam up now at the slightest provocation.

"Girl." His hiss was impatient. Contemptuous.

And it worked to return her attention back to him. Her glazed emerald eyes cleared somewhat and focused on him.

"Hide. Now." His smooth tenor was whisper soft, but it might as well be as loud as a gunshot to her. She nodded, quickly snapping out of her shock. Sakura still did not know where she was nor was she aware of the combative aptitude of those oinins but even she knew that it was imperative that the bounty hunters did not see her in correlation with the Akatsuki. She would be deemed a threat and dealt with thusly, and would not be allowed to explain until it was all too late.

Gods, she was now a part of them, in a manner of speaking. As long as she was stuck with Itachi she was going to spend the rest of her short life being hunted down like a dog.

Her realization hit her like a heavy blow to the head, but her instincts refused to give her time to go into shock. The implications of her revelations were quickly pushed aside to be analyzed later and Sakura forced her mind to operate in automatic mode. The most important thing now would be to vacate the area, everything else be damned.

Rapidly recovering her senses, Sakura stared at the expressionless Uchiha. How the heck can he still stand there and look so calm? Then it quickly occurred to her that this must have happened to him so often that they were old news already. He probably saw those hunter-nins as nothing more than a nuisance. Sakura felt oddly angered by his nonchalance.

"I hope they get you this time." She whispered fervently before she could stop her lips from moving. Sakura immediately wished that she could take the words back.

Itachi didn't react to her vicious statement for a long moment, and morbidly Sakura decided that he was probably thinking up the best way to murder her in the most painful manner possible.

Then he did the scariest thing that made her mouth drop open.

Itachi smiled at her.

It wasn't even an I'm-going-to-kill-you-die smile; no, this one was much worst, and looked so odd on him that she did not know what to make of it.

It was the merest upwards tilt of his thin lips, and the slightest look of amusement that cracked the icy veneer in his frigid crimson gaze, but Sakura was struck dumb by it.

Wow. The bastard could smile.

She wasn't even aware that she had blurted out her thoughts again until she heard Itachi make a small noise in the back of his throat. If it was coming from a lesser man Sakura would have said that it was a snort.

Sakura quickly turned bright red, but the color was quick to fade when his Sharingan gaze froze over once again and it was as if she had imagined that look of amusement in his detached gaze. God, this guy has got to be the queen bitch of mood swinging, though Sakura did not say it out loud this time.

"You don't mean that, _Sakura_."

His lilting tenor was rich with sardonic humor despite the apparent emptiness in his eyes, and the poor kunoichi was shocked once again. This guy is…unbelievable…!! And she didn't mean it the good way, too. The kunoichi was about to open her mouth to snap angrily at the Uchiha when he reacted suddenly.

As if he sensed something she did not, Itachi lifted his head, then cocked it slightly as if listening hard for the disturbance. Before she could ask him what was going on the crimson eyes snapped to hers once more, the three Sharingan tomoe starting to whirl and swim wildly in each of his pupils.

"Go."

The single word shattered the odd moment, and urged by the urgency of the situation Sakura snapped into action. Without another look at the Uchiha she stepped away from him then turned and loped into the darkness, merging completely with the shadows within the blink of an eye.

Itachi watched her disappear.

Then he continued standing in the middle of the clearing, and he waited patiently for them to come to him.

_"Will you walk into my parlor?" said the spider to the fly.

* * *

_

_::tsuzuku::_


	8. Chapter 8

**Juxtaposition**

**Chapter 8**

Deidara was mentally spouting curses left and right as he raced soundlessly through the thick canopy of the forest. The blonde breezed through the thick vegetation and hardly shook the leaves in his wake but despite that those oinins were hellish trackers and his instincts were all but screaming at him, telling him that he was still being closely followed after by the team of ANBU. Adrenaline pumped through the lanky Akatsuki as he banked sharply to the right, swiftly evading the hunter-nins as best as he could. They detected his sudden shift in direction though; and the blonde cursed inwardly when he sensed them right on his track once more.

Damn Sand-nins.

Deidara just knew that something like that would happen when Itachi chose to cut through Suna. Those Sand-nins held a mean grudge towards their organization especially since they had nearly killed their esteemed Godaime Kazekage. And since he, Deidara, was one of the two missing-nins who had helped extract the Shukaku, it was really no surprise to the blonde that the Suna ANBU were so aggressive in their pursuit of him.

Normally he would have chosen to stay and fight those hunter-nins but his situation at the moment wasn't exactly normal. They had a Konoha kunoichi with them and Itachi had made it clear that no one outside their organization was to know of her presence, thus negating the blonde's 'fight' instinct and activating the 'flight' one instead. Deidara would have wanted nothing more than to create his giant clay bird for a quick escape but the huge avian was only effective for long distance getaways and his partner was anything but far. If he used the bird he would end up leading the Sand-nins right to Uchiha and his captive and Itachi wasn't exactly the nicest person in the world when he is displeased.

The blonde had no doubt that his partner was aware by now that he had met up with some 'complications'. It had been nearly an hour since he had left the small group to backtrack and erase what's left of their trail. Yep, Itachi definitely knew by now that he had run into hunter-nins, and even as the blonde thought so the Akatsuki ring on his right index finger started to glow an eerie green.

Turquoise eyes widened imperceptibly as the Uchiha's message got through to him. Huh. So he wanted to fight now.

Deidara felt his edginess disappear like a puff of smoke at the news. He hated to run away unless absolutely necessary, preferring the challenge of a good combat to escaping like a coward with his tail tucked between his legs. Feeling a lot more cheerful now, Deidara started to manipulate clay with the open mouths in both of his hands, infusing his chakra into the clay and spitting them out skywards to form a giant, flapping bird all within the blink of an eye. Without even a moment's pause the blonde leapt nimbly onto the back of the avian, narrowly missing the barrage of shuriken that had been targeted at him.

Deidara's reaction to his near miss was an extremely rude gesture directed at the Sand-nins below him now.

"Catch me if you can!" The Akatsuki called out cheekily as his bird flew higher, a glaring beacon against the darkness of the night. After all, it simply wouldn't do if those ANBU lost track of him. Deidara grinned inwardly but tried to feel sorry for leading those hunter-nins to their demise.

He failed miserably, and smirked all the way back to the Uchiha.

* * *

Itachi was waiting silently in the middle of a small clearing when Deidara hopped off his feathered steed. With a casual flick of his fingers the huge clay bird disintegrated to dust and the blonde sauntered up to his compatriot. 

"Sand-nins. Four of them." Deidara shrugged delicately when Itachi flickered his gaze towards him. "They should be here soon, give or take a few minutes."

Sakura was nowhere in sight and Deidara raised a brow at her telling disappearance.

"You trust her enough to let her go, un?" The blonde asked almost curiously as he took up position beside the Uchiha.

The look that the Sharingan user gave him was nothing short of acidic.

"I don't trust anyone."

Deidara made sure to keep his mouth shut from henceforth and the two Akatsuki waited in silence for their prey.

* * *

"Captain, the Akatsuki has led us to a trap." 

The ANBU who had reported back from the clearing a mile away spoke up quietly from under his mask. "He is with Uchiha Itachi. Do we continue?"

The other two in the team remained silent and watchful, perched on the thick branches above their captain. They were currently situated on the edge of Suna, bordering Konoha, which explained the unusually thick foliage that they were currently surrounded in.

The ANBU captain, an experienced Jounin-level Sand-nin, hesitated.

A single member of the Akatsuki they might be able to handle as a team, but two, and the other being the infamous clan murderer Uchiha, he wasn't so sure. It would be foolish to sacrifice his unit to the S-class missing-nins needlessly.

"No. We will not rush in recklessly." The ANBU captain spoke decisively at last. "We will call for backup and-"

"And we will wait foolishly for your people to surround us, un?"

Deidara's amused voice rang out from below the branches.

The Akatsuki had appeared literally out of thin air, and it was obvious that the scout whom they had sent to spy on the missing-nins had been detected by the two of them from the very beginning.

The four Sand-nins immediately flickered out of sight in small explosions of sand but the Akatsuki did not appear concerned by their sudden disappearance. The oinins hadn't even come up with a united plan of attack yet; it would be laughably easy to take them down.

Deidara's hands came together and started to quickly perform a series of hand seals. "Kage bunshin no jutsu!" The blonde drawled lazily and immediately a barrage of Deidara clones filled up the small clearing. Itachi did not move; his kaleidoscope eyes piercing and laser-like, scanning the area for movement.

The arsenal of long range weapons that came at the Uchiha was expected and they hit the Akatsuki with deadly precision. Uchiha Itachi started to collapse, and then promptly exploded with a puff of smoke into a piece of log.

With a superior speed that made his movement nearly undetectable, the substituted Uchiha launched himself at the direction where the weapons had came from, hurling an unceasing volley of kunais that the ANBU captain dodged with ease. The Sand-nin did not notice the small sacks of miniature explosives attached to the weapons and rolled back onto the fallen kunais when Itachi abruptly changed his direction of attack.

"Is that all you can do, Uchiha?" The masked ANBU sneered, his voice slightly muffled.

The foolish oinin did not even merit a reply and with a swift flick of his wrist, Itachi flung a shuriken into one of his kunais with deadly accuracy. The ANBU captain realized too late the exploding tag attached to the shuriken, and the ground shook with the subsequent explosion that caused flames to blow sky high. Oddly enough, the captain was not killed in the blast, merely knock unconscious and quite injured.

At the same time, Deidara's shadow clones had sourced out two of the hiding hunter-nins, and the maniacally grinning clones immediately executed the infamous Bunshin Kaiten Kakatou Otoshi, leaping high up into the air and quickly spinning into a deadly kaiten. The aims of the twenty clones hit straight and true, their heels slamming down upon the heads and shoulders of the two masked ANBU consecutively even before they could retaliate with their wind-based techniques. Because Deidara hadn't joined his bunshins in the offensive the two Sand-nins merely fell unconscious after the repeated hits on their nerves and chakra gates, and the blonde smirked with pleasure.

With his team brought down so fast that he couldn't even blink, the last hunter-nin quickly made the decision to retreat to call for backup. The speediest of the group, the ANBU had turned and escaped so fast that he was sure that he had not been followed.

"Going somewhere?"

The face of the emotionless Uchiha literally slid into view before him, and behind the animal mask, the oinin's eyes widened with increasing disbelief. He tried to turn but found that he could not move. Whirling Sharingan eyes caught his gaze firmly, refused to let go. The flashing kaleidoscope of red reeled him in and he was helpless to resist. Fear crippled him.

"I'm sorry." The Uchiha whispered.

* * *

It was the god awful rumble that alerted them that something was wrong. 

They stood only but a mile west when the roaring flames shot into the sky in a mushroomed furnace. The both of them turned to look at the fiery disruption.

Itachi shifted his attention to an openly surprised Deidara. The blonde continued eying the slowly receding blast before staring back at his partner- who was clearly demanding from the hard look in his crimson eyes for him to start explaining why there was such a great explosion coming from that direction, as well as why the Suna hunter-nins were taking so long to make their offense.

"Erm…Maybe they got lost?" The blonde offered weakly. Truly he had no idea why the Sand-nins haven't even triggered his carefully set alarms yet.

Itachi had a better explanation.

Sakura.

Sharingan eyes flared with barely suppressed anger, and before Deidara could react the Uchiha turned and flickered out of sight.

* * *

With a heavy sigh, Sakura laid the last of the Sand-nins together in the clearing. They were laid side by side, all deeply unconscious but Sakura knew that they would wake in roughly a day's time. Sakura felt a twinge of guilt at seeing the ANBU captain's openly injured state. The kunoichi immediately told herself that she had no choice, and that at least they would all live. Sakura had no doubts that had they been really involved with the 'real' Akatsuki the confrontation would have been literally deadly to them, to say the least. 

It had been a stroke of pure luck when she had run into the group of hunter-nins. Keeping herself carefully concealed she had watched as the lone Sand-nin came in to report to his leader the Akatsuki's position. There were only four of them, and yet they were planning to take on two infamous members of the most dangerous organization in the world. It was suicide, and she had panicked. Judging from Itachi's dark aura, she just knew that he was in a killing mood.

She might be forced to betray her country for now, but she was still a Konoha kunoichi and she simply could not sit by and do nothing; watching helplessly as their allies become uselessly killed by the common enemy.

Oh, Itachi's low warning had fleeted past her brain as she thought the abovementioned thoughts, but it was quickly overcrowded and shoved to the corner of her mind as she quickly formed a foolproof plan to sidetrack the Sand-nins.

She had been careful to use very common attacks that would not tie Konoha to their investigation as she was sure would happen when these shinobis get back to be interrogated by their own. She had cleverly used their wariness and natural fear of the Akatsuki against them, having her clones act as nonchalant and as confident as she had envisioned Deidara and Itachi would be in battle. It had worked, and it was truly amazing how even the best ninjas could clam up and freeze in the face of fear.

Sakura looked around the clearing slowly. The Deidara clones had already been dispelled, including the original. She was still in her Itachi transformation, and that reminded her of the Uchiha. Her troubles were not yet over; there was still Itachi to contend with.

_Itachi, who had explicitly warned her not to get involved with this. _

Sakura blanched slightly and it really was a good thing that no one was there to see it, for Uchiha Itachi looked very odd with that sickly green cast on his face.

"Oh god." Sakura whimpered in a lilting masculine tenor. "He is going to kill me."

* * *

Deidara was really surprised by what he saw. 

They had arrived on the site of the explosion just in time to see what obviously was at least twenty of his clone's clones performing a rather high-ranking attack simultaneously on a pair of ANBU. The speed of the attack was impressive, and the Sand-nins had gone down before they could even form the hand seals for an appropriate retaliation. Then he watched himself grin that exact same grin that he had showed Sakura just a few hours ago, her cloned version of him a startling resemblance in character to himself.

The blonde was not allowed much time to ponder over the kunoichi's astute analysis of himself, for the other 'Itachi' whom he now knew was Sakura had slid into action and was chasing after the last oinin. Itachi, who had been eerily silent since reaching the edge of the clearing, had followed her progress as she moved noiselessly after the Sand-nin, her face blank and her movements predatory- exactly like his. She mimicked him accurately, and both Akatsuki watched as she dispatched of the last hunter-nin easily, trapping him within an A-rank genjutsu that had him falling into a deep sleep all the while leading him to believe that he was hopelessly trapped within the Sharingan.

Then using her signature inhuman strength she had easily picked up the heavier shinobi and quietly headed back for the clearing, gently laying down the unconscious ANBU team beside each other, a look of concern on her face, or more specifically, Itachi's face. If the situation wasn't so odd, Deidara would have burst into appalling gales of laughter.

Fortunately the freezing, absolute-zero mood that the real Uchiha beside him was in curbed that urge.

Still, the blonde could not help but feel that Sakura's plan was perfectly executed, and tastefully simple. Both missing-nins did not fail to notice that all her attacks were common but high-ranking and definitely could not be traced back to her at all. She was nowhere near their level of course, but Deidara was still very impressed, to say the least. Despite the fact that she seemed to be a little of a scatterbrain sometimes and once again had not detected their presence at all it was undeniable that this fiercely loyal kunoichi was a force to reckon with, and what's even more dangerous about her was that one would never know just when she would strike.

She really was a wildcard in all sense of the word, and Deidara was pleased to know that he was right on the mark as usual. Really, underestimating her would hardly be a good idea.

Deidara wondered just when Itachi would wise up to that glaring fact.

* * *

It was the soft crunch of twigs under the flats of boots that announced to her their arrival. 

Sakura slumped somewhat, back facing the source of the noise. The henge no jutsu wore off immediately, the sleek, elegant lines that made up Uchiha Itachi fading into her own normal self; pink-hair, petite form and all.

Taking a deep breath to prepare herself for what she knew was going to be an ugly confrontation; she turned and faced her antagonists. For once she did not look at Itachi at all, desperately focusing her eyes on his partner. The pitying look that Deidara sent her was enough to confirm her suspicions that she was in deep trouble.

'_Come on, suck it up_.' Inner Sakura spoke bluntly. '_You did what you had to do_.'

Her alter ego was correct, of course. She had done what was absolutely necessary. She was a medic-nin, and had sworn to save lives. She was doing her duty in a way, going about the good old 'prevention before cure' routine. If anything, he should have expected that nothing short of knocking her out would stop her from meddling.

Yes, it was his own fault, and none of hers, for he had assumed that she would heed his orders. She was not his to command; not really. She was only his captive, and what captive would willingly follow her abductor's orders?

With that thought fueling her empty courage, Sakura slowly turned her gaze from Deidara to Itachi. She regretted it immediately.

Crimson Sharingan burned into her own eyes with a fury that made her quaver inwardly. Oh, he didn't look nearly as frightening as that time one month ago of course, but something about the way he was glaring coldly at her told her that he didn't appreciate having his explicit orders ignored and blatantly unheeded. She paled at the force of his silent hostility and took an unconscious step back. Itachi had not even spoken yet, and she was already feeling the effects of his displeasure. But then again, he didn't need to open his mouth at all; his crimson eyes spoke eloquently of his icy ire as it is.

Sakura swallowed nervously and steeled herself. Instinctively she smoothed her anxious features to something that vaguely resembled tranquility, and hid her fidgeting hands behind her. Be brave. Be brave. Be brave. She chanted inwardly to herself. Of course she had known that her act of defiance would cost her dearly.

She was obviously terrified of Itachi- and what he could do to her.

Her fear was for a good reason, of course. Despite the fact that he needed her for healing he could still hurt her very badly in ways that she had probably never comprehended before her entire life. Deidara could see that she was trying her best to keep calm though, and to force herself not to show that instinctual sense of blind panic on her face. The blonde commended her silently but it would not be enough to save her from the cold fire of the Uchiha's wrath this time.

"What," Itachi's voice was so soft that it was barely audible. Sakura had to strain hard to hear his next string of words and hear it she did, together with the quiet malice it was accompanied with. "have I told you prior to this?"

The malevolence was so overpoweringly suffocating behind his tenor that she trembled slightly. She wanted so much to say that she didn't remember but something told her that he would probably sniff out her lie.

"I was to hide…" Her voice shook slightly and hitched.

"And?" His voice dropped a whole octave, but somehow the sheer cruelty in his lilting tone all but roared its presence in her face. She tried to look away from his crimson eyes but he locked down on her, refusing to grant her even that little respite. She exhaled and clenched her fists tightly to compose herself.

"And I was not to interfere."

Crimson eyes hardened.

"You blatantly went against my order." It wasn't a question, but a stark statement. Sakura gritted her teeth at the last word. That was not true!

She was so desperate to turn her mind numbing fear into something else, and anger was just about perfect. He might be from Akatsuki, but she was from Konoha. It shamed her that she was so openly afraid of him. It wasn't supposed to be like this; she was supposed to fight him every step of the way, not bow down before him in defeat and fear him like a timid mouse.

Either way, she was going to die under his hand, wasn't it? By damn, she would go with her head held high.

Emerald eyes flared to life, and Deidara watched as she stiffened her spine and stretched herself to her full height.

"That is not true." Her voice quavered at first, then held firm. "I didn't go against your order because I never gave my word to heed it in the first place."

Her bold statement was met with silence, but Sakura was not done yet.

"I never acknowledged your words, and even if I did, it wouldn't have counted at all because I was forced into it. I never went against your order," Her eyes sharpened and she glared back at him. "because in the first place I was never yours for you to order about. I am just an unwilling captive, and _I sure as hell do not belong to you_."

She barely had time to spit out the words before she went crashing to the ground.

Stunned, she didn't really understand what had happened at first. Then her cheek started to throb painfully and she lifted a shaky hand to touch the sensitized skin. Her eyes flew up from her sprawled pose to meet with his cold crimson ones.

He had backhanded her.

He had dared laid a hand on her! Inner Sakura flared to life, forcibly pushing away the shock that threatened to overwhelm her. Sakura glared at him with fiery hatred. The pink-haired kunoichi quickly picked herself up from the ground.

"Don't forget that the length of your lifespan is mine to decide, Kunoichi." Itachi's tenor voice was rich with contempt as he watched the pathetic scrap of a girl stand up again.

She struck out at him suddenly then, throwing a chakra-infused fist to his face so fast that he barely had time to react. He turned at the last moment but her knuckles still managed to glance off his cheek, the smallest fraction of the force that she had packed powerful enough to turn his head. She snarled at her failure to land a proper hit, and he lunged at her then, Deidara promptly forgotten by the side.

The blonde Akatsuki watched as his coolheaded partner lost his temper and went after the clearly suicidal kunoichi. The Uchiha restrained her hands with his and she struggled furiously against the larger male, spitting out curses and vulgarities as she tried to free herself so that she could attack him once more. She tried to use her legs to kick at him but Itachi sidestepped her easily and repeatedly, much to her frustrations. Sakura didn't stop trying though, and in the end the Akatsuki rammed his weight against hers, knocking her off balance and crowding her onto the ground.

The force of the hard ground together with his lean muscular mass all but knocked the breath out of her and red-faced and panting, she glared at him so fiercely that her eyes turned to a shade of darkened emerald, glittering with her anger.

He narrowed his eyes at her, ordering her without words to submit.

She told him without words to go to hell.

"You only own my life." Sakura growled out at last, obviously at the end of her patience. "And nothing else. Go ahead then, end it here and now if you so wish to. End my misery." She commanded.

He merely gave her a sardonic stare, and suddenly it was all she could do not to lift up her head and bite off his aristocratic nose.

"And why would I want to do that," He purred mockingly at her, watching her face tighten up with fury. "_when your pain gives me so much pleasure_?"

She was so angry that she spat at him. Literally.

Her saliva slid down his cheek and for a blink of an eye he looked shocked by her uncouth action. Then he glared down at her.

"You will pay for that, little girl."

She merely stared back at him with such defiance that his mind went blank for a moment and he did the one thing that he had been aching to do the moment her eyes had flared up to that brilliant shade of emerald and she had fought back at him.

Itachi tightened his hold on her hands, then ducked down his head and covered her mouth with his.

It wasn't meant to pleasure her, on the contrary. It was meant to humiliate.

She was shocked by his invasion of her person, and he forced her mouth open to accept his kiss, ramming his tongue into her moist cavern when she did so dumbly. Then she realized what she had just done and started to fight him in earnest, tried her best to rip her mouth from his and desperately tried to pull away from his cruel debasement of her. He bit down hard on her lip to ensure her obedience and she whimpered at the pain. But that didn't stop her from her furious struggles, silent tears streaking down her face as she fought him fiercely, and at last he was dislodged from her lips.

Through opaque, glimmering eyes of emerald she glared at him with such fury that she literally shook from the force of it. He eyed the thin trail of blood that trickled from her sorely mistreated lower lip and immediately felt a sliver of remorse for hurting her this way. Suddenly, it disgusted him so much; that she could so easily rip away his control and made him behave like a crazed animal.

He should kill her now, and that would definitely rid him of all the problems that she had single-handedly caused to him.

Itachi appeared to do so too, but the rational part of him quickly reminded him that he still needed her medical expertise.

But then again, there were others who could aide him with his visual problem as well, and would give him less trouble than she did, this irritatingly fearless, stupidly loyal woman who refused to stop antagonizing him.

But yet he still hesitated, and unknowingly his hold on her loosened.

Itachi paid dearly for his inattention when Sakura managed to free a hand and bring it, together with her sharp nails, viciously down the side of his face. The Uchiha snarled violently at her as he felt the sting of her nails ripping through his flesh. She glared back at him, the droplets of salty tears still slipping noiselessly from her beautiful eyes.

"Do that again," She hissed hatefully at him, her fiery spirit refusing to die despite his brutal treatment of her. "And I will bite my own tongue off."

As Itachi stared down at her, speechless, it finally occurred to him what it was that had drawn him to her like a moth to a flame. Her strong character. That unyielding spirit.

What if he broke her? Would his fascination with her cease then?

God, he certainly hoped so.

Itachi schooled his face back to its impassive façade once more, only allowing glittering crimson eyes to look down at her with contempt.

"You are mine, and I will do whatever I please with you." His reply had her aching to hit him again but he had long since reclaimed her hand with his. She shook with fury, and not even the sight of his inhumanly beautiful face bleeding at the side could appease that anger.

"You will be properly punished for you have done." He continued speaking to her. "And you will be taught never to raise your hand against your master again, even if I have to leash you like an animal in order for you to learn your lesson."

She opened her mouth to tell him to go fuck himself but before she could do so his Sharingan dragged her into crimson pools and forced her under, drowning her in darkness and killing her consciousness within seconds.

Itachi picked himself up from the slack body of the kunoichi, his form lethal and predatory even after the fierce skirmish with the female. Crimson eyes flickered once to Deidara. The blonde's jaw was hanging so wide open that flies could have flown in and he wouldn't be able to close them in time to prevent it. Deidara was utterly shocked by what he had just seen. No wonder Itachi was so detached and impassive most of the time. His emotions were so violent and volatile that the blonde could hardly believe it. He had never seen anything like that from Itachi before, and he was quite sure that no one else had ever had either.

And the little kunoichi who was now lying unconscious on the ground was the only one who could invoke that kind of intensity from the Sharingan user.

It was simply mind boggling.

Deidara watched as Itachi picked up the unconscious kunoichi, laying her head carefully against the crook of his shoulder as he did so. The thin trail of blood originating from her lips gleamed eerily in the soft moonlight and Deidara felt a little sorry for Sakura. In another life, in another time perhaps, her unyielding spirit would have been fiercely cherished by the male fortunate enough to capture her in all sense of the word, but not now. It was obvious to the blonde that Itachi was determined only to crush that indomitable will of hers, and not nurture it like he should be doing. The blonde shook his head inwardly; the Uchiha was foolish if he failed to see the rarity that she was. She would be his greatest asset if he could win over her loyalty, but then again, Uchiha Itachi probably thought that he was too powerful to need the loyalty of anyone, let alone a small pink-haired medic-nin who was so stubborn.

"Itachi." Deidara spoke up softly. "Maybe I should carry Sakura now. You have been doing so the whole of today and-"

"I will manage." The Sharingan user didn't even look at his partner as he cut him off resolutely. Deidara eyed the tall male who was now looking emotionless and impassive once again. The blonde decided to try again.

"But you are bleeding-"

"Deidara." Turquoise eyes met hard crimson. The blonde inhaled sharply at the feral gaze.

"Do not come between us."

The warning was clear.

The blonde nodded quickly.

* * *

When Sakura awoke again she could feel the side of her cheek where Itachi had struck her still sore and slightly swollen. It wasn't as bad as she had first thought though. The bite mark on her lower lip had congealed but still stung a little when she lightly ran her tongue over the wound. 

She also found herself strangely vertical, and that she couldn't move at all.

A further inspection confirmed her suspicions.

She had been tightly lashed to a tree, her unprotected back exposed. Sakura immediately felt vulnerable.

"You are awake."

Even though she couldn't see him she definitely recognized the dispassionate voice. A roar of anger filled her with adrenaline, and her initially relaxed form started to stiffen with agitation.

He came into view then, and she narrowed her eyes at him. She could not prevent the small smirk from showing on her face though, when she saw the raw scratch marks on the side of his face. He had long since cleaned up the wounds of course, but Sakura just knew that he would look into the mirror and know that she had bested him as long as the wounds were still there. That pleased her. He caught her look of gloating, and Sharingan eyes started to flash.

"Your lesson starts now." He snapped at her.

She refused to even acknowledge him.

Crimson eyes narrowed at her defiance.

"Fine." Itachi spoke once more. "I was ready to forgo your punishment the moment you apologized-"

"I did nothing wrong, and I will never apologize to the likes of you." She hissed flatly at him.

Her disobedience could not be ignored any further, and it angered him that she would still dare act so insolently before him despite what had happened between them. He needed to show her how brutal he could be.

"I see. You need to be convinced then." Before her very eyes, he slowly unwound the object that he had been holding from her sight. Sakura watched the leather rope as it coiled onto the ground like a snake. A whip.

Making sure that her attention was focused fully on the weapon, Itachi flicked his wrist lazily, and the long whip licked across the space between them to slam violently against the very tree trunk she was tied to with a sickening crack. Sakura could not prevent herself from flinching.

"You went against my order and helped the Sand-nins. Admit your mistake and promise never to do it again and I shall let it pass." His tenor tone made her stiffen.

"Suna is my country's ally. I will always offer help to those whom I owe my loyalty to."

Itachi's lips thinned at her stubborn vehemence.

"Your loyalty belongs rightfully to me now."

Her emerald eyes flew up to his immediately. "You are more delusional than I previously thought." She spat contemptuously.

His crimson eyes flared at her scorn. Before she could prepare herself, he struck at her with the whip.

Her eyes widened with shock as the sickening sound of leather against flesh echoed in her ears, and her breath got caught in her throat. It was as if he had poured liquid fire onto her back, and the agony ate at her. Tears filled her eyes and overflowed, and she immediately hung her head. The pain was so intense that she couldn't even scream. When she could finally breathe again, her shoulders were shaking and she was panting hard. Her ears buzzed and she was slightly bewildered by the hazy sound.

"Perhaps you would like to repeat that, kunoichi." His soft tone did nothing to ease her rage, and it was the same with his whip. She lifted her head slowly and stared at him once more, eyes glimmering with more unshed tears and such anger.

"I said," Her voice shook. "That you are more delusional than I previously thought."

She expected his lashing this time, but that didn't make the pain any lesser when it hit. She made a soft strangled sound in the back of her throat and her muscles spasmed. The tears came so hard that she couldn't stop them, and Sakura breathed harshly as she tried to will away the pain.

Itachi watched her silent struggles with an increasing agitation. He wanted so much to break her, to bend her to his will, but seeing her like this brought him none of the satisfaction that he had previously thought it would. But she was the one who refused to budge, and he would have no choice but to force her to do so.

"Apologize." He demanded quietly.

She laughed hoarsely, then opened emerald eyes to look at him with such pity.

"I can't do that. Sorry." She was oddly sarcastic in her polite refusal, and he saw red.

"Perhaps, all you really need is some persuasion." Itachi was deliberate in his speech. "Ten more times you will feel the bite of this whip; and maybe it will change your mind then."

Even as distress struck her, Sakura eyed him calmly.

"I think not."

Itachi's response was to swing the whip at her back.

The first two lashes had her feeling faint. She could feel her heart pounding loudly in her ears as anguish ate away her back. The next three lashes hit the same spot consecutively, and she wept silently as the whip bit viciously into bloodied flesh again and again and again, and she could not even breathe properly until her vision was spotted and the pain receded a little. Itachi had stopped then, and had asked her if she had changed her mind already and too tormented to even properly show her defiance she had just tiredly asked him to get on with it.

And continue he did, and this time all five strokes were made on the same bloodied welt.

The first three lashes flitted against her back quickly but the pain crawled across her skin as if dragging behind heavy thorns of rusted metal. She gritted her teeth till her jaw ached and became numb, and forced her mind to somewhere peaceful and far away from this hellish nightmare. Inner Sakura urged her on. The last two lashes were heavy and brutal, and her body arched against her will as the nerves on her back felt as if they were being set on fire. Her legs refused to support her weight any longer and she would have collapsed in a bloodied heap onto the ground if not for the ropes tying her firmly to the tree. She was shaking hard despite her will and the tears simply refused to stop. Her head was bent down once again, the long strands of pink-hair shielding her expression of pure torment from her torturer.

It hurt so damned much.

Itachi watched her willpower battle against her pain, and to his mounting frustration the physical agony was simply no match against her indomitable spirit. She tried her best not to cry out with anguish each time his whip struck her flesh, and she had damned near succeeded too. He didn't understand why she just had to be so difficult, and a part of him wondered if he would still be so interested in her if she wasn't so.

He didn't want to destroy her, he was starting to realize that now, and he certainly didn't wish to damage her beyond repair. He had meant his words when he had claimed her as his, and if anything he always took good care of his belongings. No, he didn't want to extinguish her fiery spirit; he only wanted to tame it.

"All I want is your loyalty, Sakura." Itachi spoke quietly. "Won't you give it to me?"

She didn't even raise her head to look at him this time, and she took so long to answer him that for a moment he thought that she had succumbed to the pain and had fainted from it. Only the feeble fluctuation of her chakra told him that she was awake, albeit very weakened.

He waited for her to speak, and speak she did, at long last.

"You don't understand at all, do you?" Her voice was soft, and almost heartbreakingly tender.

"Loyalty has to be earned, not forced."

* * *

_::tsuzuku::_


	9. Chapter 9

**Juxtaposition**

**Chapter 9**

Deidara likes to think of himself as a reasonable man.

He also likes to think of himself as a gentleman, but only on occasion, of course. Oh, he was not above fighting a kunoichi when the need arises, but he always tries not to be purposely vicious whenever there is such an occurrence. It was after all, one thing to pit one's skills against a worthy opponent and quite another different story to cruelly attack a defenseless and helpless victim with no hope of retaliation whatsoever.

Therefore when the blonde returned to the campsite after half a day's journey to the nearest village to stock up on their dwindling supplies it was quite understandable that he was quite dismayed and aggravated by the appalling sight displayed before him.

"Good god." Deidara quickly alighted from his feathered steed and dropped the bag of supplies on the floor carelessly; turquoise eyes glued to the ravaged pink-haired figure slumped and bound tightly against the trunk of a large tree. From the distance it was not possible to see if she was alive or not, but Deidara could clearly see the crimson stain of blood gleaming wetly against her back, the material of her shirt long since ripped to shreds.

A small breeze flowed past him in the early morning air, and with it Deidara detected the heavy metallic scent of the kunoichi's blood. The blonde blanched inwardly and started to make his way across the clearing, towards the apathetic Uchiha. As he neared the tortured female it became obvious to him that she wasn't dead like he had feared but was merely unconscious, her lids closed tightly over her eyes and her mouth pull down in a pained grimace. Her breathing was harsh and ragged, and he could see dried tear tracks trailing from the tips of her eyes to the bottom of her chin.

Deidara turned his outraged gaze to the indifferent Uchiha standing before her limp form, the blood soaked, _incriminating_ whip still coiled loosely around his hand. Shuttered Sharingan orbs whirling crazily.

"Are you _insane_?!"

Belatedly Deidara decided that this was such a wrong question to ask the Uchiha.

The empty crimson gaze slid over to his, but Deidara was too agitated to be properly intimidated by his companion. It did not sit well with him at all, the way Itachi was toying with the pink-haired kunoichi thusly. It went against his personal code of honor, and the blonde was slightly sickened. He was well aware of course, that both Kisame and Itachi were the duo in charge of torture and interrogation within the organization. He could never stomach nor mimic that kind of sadism and torment that they were capable of inflicting on their victims. Not many could. The shark man and the Uchiha were the perfect pair for their positions within the Akatsuki; Kisame with his inhuman strength and manpower to exact all sorts of physical agony…and Uchiha Itachi, whose unbeatable Mangekyo Sharingan would literally be your worst nightmare.

Itachi's specialty in genjutsu did not mean that he would be rendered useless in other…arts of torture, as evidenced by the age-old method of flagellation. What made Deidara so uncomfortable though, was the fact that the Uchiha was using physical methods instead of his normal forms of genjutsu. It was well-known to most of the Akatsuki that the Uchiha was what one would call an 'elegant killer', preferring not to dirty his hands with blood if possible. Everything was cold-blooded and systematic with the sociopathic Sharingan user, and the fact that he was actually reveling in hurting the pink-haired kunoichi this way told Deidara just how deep his bloodlust for her went. It was cruel, and the fact that there were no mercenary reasons to subject her to such physical damage told the blonde a lot about the Uchiha's intentions towards her.

No, Haruno Sakura was not just a means to an end for Uchiha Itachi. She was something more. A lot more.

And he was going to kill her eventually if this keeps on.

The blonde eyed Itachi with something akin to mild disgust in his gaze. Then he turned his eyes to the pink-haired kunoichi.

"What do you really want from her, Uchiha?" Deidara asked the silent male softly. "She won't be in any condition to heal your eyes if you keep using her as your plaything, you know."

Still, Itachi did not speak, and Deidara walked around the bound female to look on her wounds. The muscles on blonde's jaw ticked when he saw her entire back covered with congealing blood and strips of cloth that once made up her shirt. It was going to be hell for her to separate the material from her wounds, some of which were still oozing the crimson life-giving liquid. The lashes that Itachi had given her weren't all over the place and haphazardly done, but instead meant to inflict maximum agony. Each raw, open welt covered as much area of her delicate skin as possible and the deepest one went across her entire back, from the rounded top of her right shoulder all the way down to the rising curve of her left hip. Her flesh was split so wide open that Deidara knew immediately that the welts would definitely scar.

If she survived the healing, that is.

Not really an expert in medical jutsus, the blonde only knew enough to delve into her internal system to at least check for her chakra level. Unsurprisingly, it was alarmingly low.

"She won't be able to heal herself, Itachi." Deidara remarked at last as he walked back around to face his partner. "It has taken a lot out of her energy reserves to battle those Sand-nins, and now that you have done this to her before allowing her chakra to replenish itself her body would try its best to heal the wounds first before restoring her chakra. She probably won't be able to fight the infection herself, and she definitely won't make it back to the hideout like this."

Deidara was quite annoyed with Itachi for treating the pink-haired kunoichi thusly but it had been expected. The blonde could not say anything, nor would he actively interfere nor condone the Uchiha's actions because the little medic was his captive first and foremost, and that was simply the way things were in their organization. You do not interfere in the private affairs of fellow members.

That didn't mean that Deidara was going to stand by and do nothing though. The pink-haired kunoichi had been astoundingly loyal and had held fast to her values and beliefs despite the overwhelming odds that had been stacked against her. She didn't deserve this kind degradation.

The blonde went around the petite kunoichi and started to undo her bonds that kept her lashed to the tree. Itachi made no move to stop him. Deidara freed her bound hands first, then her feet, and at last her body. She was so still, and only her long pink hair fluttered gently in the wind. Without the hold of the ropes, she started to slump to the side, and Deidara caught her effortlessly, his lips set in a grim line.

"She needs help." The blonde said curtly. Then Deidara paused. "Or do you want it to end here?"

It would be so very easy to produce a kunai to end her misery now. She was going to suffer from a severe infection that she probably had no hope of recovering from anyway, and judging from the Uchiha's treatment of her there was no way in hell that he would lift a finger to help her survive this. It would be a mercy killing, of sorts.

Then Itachi spoke.

"Leave."

Deidara did not know what to make of the blank tone. There was no anger, no remorse, no anything. The blonde lifted his head and shifted his attention from the pink-haired kunoichi in his arms to the apathetic red eyes of his fellow Akatsuki. Deidara narrowed turquoise orbs at Itachi, as if trying to gauge what the other male was thinking. As usual it was a futile effort and the blonde looked away at last.

"I will be more than glad to." Deidara muttered as he turned and started to make his way back towards where his feathered mount still stood, pink-haired burden pulled close to him. The blonde knew that the Uchiha would definitely not allow him to make a getaway with his captive, but it was still worth a try-

"_Deidara._"

The air of warning was so thick that the blonde sighed noisily. He turned back to his comrade, and stiffened imperceptibly when their eyes met again.

The Sharingan orbs were no longer blank and empty, but starting to glow with agitation and raw aggression. Deidara wondered vaguely why he was risking his own life helping a little Leaf-nin. Maybe it was because of her unyielding spirit. Maybe it was because her mule headed tendencies were pretty entertaining. Maybe it was because he admired the inherent kindness within her.

Deidara opened his mouth.

"She needs medical attention, Uchiha." The blonde's normally cheerful, light voice was uncharacteristically hard and uncompromising. "If you don't want her to risk getting an infection we need to go now."

"Put her down and leave, Deidara." Itachi's soft, almost placid tone didn't change, and if it wasn't for the hard, unbending look in his eyes the blonde would have thought that the Konoha missing-nin was doing nothing more than discussing the weather.

Deidara narrowed his own turquoise gaze. "I am part of this _retrieval_ mission as well." The blonde spoke in a clipped tone, stressing the 'retrieval' part as he did so. "She isn't supposed to die on this assignment, and I won't allow it to happen. If you hold so much malevolence towards her, then give her to me. Entrust her care to-"

"No."

The single word was nearly inaudible and yet so forceful at the same time.

Kaleidoscope eyes that never stopped spinning pinned down Deidara's gaze resolutely. The blonde felt cold skitters of apprehension run up his spine.

"You forget your place, Deidara." Itachi was slow and deliberate in his speech. "The kunoichi is not yours to do as you wish. I will tell you again and only one more time. _Leave_."

The warning was clear enough.

Deidara hesitated. Crimson eyes narrowed.

The blonde blinked and looked away. Deidara was not stupid. He may like to hide himself behind his odd speaking habits and cheerful façade and clay creations but he was not stupid. None of them were. Stupidity simply could not exist in Akatsuki. Itachi was the most powerful shinobi within the organization other than for their Leader himself, and as much as the blonde wanted to help the injured kunoichi in his arms he was smart enough to know that unless the Uchiha allowed it there was no way he could do so.

Deidara emitted a loud sigh. He was being remarkably unintelligent for the past few minutes and he knew that if he looked down at the unconscious kunoichi in his arms he was going to become even stupider. Heck, he might even become idiotic enough to try to challenge the Uchiha to a fight. There really was something about Haruno Sakura of Konoha that made one…

Reckless.

And yet Uchiha Itachi was hardly affected by her genuineness and guilelessness.

But then again, the blonde thought as he walked back slowly towards the tree and lowered the slumped form of Sakura to lean gently against the trunk, it was well known that Uchiha Itachi didn't have a heart. The Sharingan user probably wouldn't know innocence and kindheartedness even if it smacked him on the face, which was what Sakura had done, come to think of it. Deidara straightened once again after carefully arranging the pink-haired kunoichi to a proper sitting position, his turquoise eyes somewhat apologetic as he did so. A part of him knew that the chances of his seeing her alive again would be close to none, and it was such a pity. She would have made a great ally.

The blonde turned his head to fix his gaze upon the Uchiha, his eyes guarded and somewhat cautious once more. Deidara sighed again, then started to turn towards the giant bird.

"I hope you know what you are doing, Itachi." The blonde's voice was soft but carried well over the clearing. He mounted the huge bird with an easy leap and turned to look at his comrade once more, purposely avoiding the particular splash of pink hair that colored the darkened area "I will be returning to the hideout straightaway…un. The supplies that I have collected should last you a week."

"My business will be concluded in a week." Itachi allowed; his smooth tenor tone unchanged as ever.

Deidara winced inwardly at his dark implications. He looked away and nodded. This was ridiculous, the way he was so overly sympathetic of the kunoichi. He had better leave before he got himself too embroiled in the Uchiha's affairs.

Without any further indication of acknowledgement towards the Sharingan user, the clay master gave an invisible signal for his mount to move. The avian spread large wings and took to the skies silently, quickly disappeared into the darkness of the early morning until it cannot be seen any longer. Deidara did not look back.

Itachi watched the small airborne speck vanish.

Then he turned his crimson eyes upon _her_.

* * *

Sakura hurt like hell when she woke up. 

Her whole body felt stiff and rigid; once again it was as if she wasn't able to move- and she didn't want to move.

Her consciousness had returned fully to her, clearing the fuzzy cobwebs in her mind but she did not open her eyes. Her mouth was dry, and her throat felt as if it had been layered with cotton wool. Her head hurt, she was somewhat vertical and lying on her stomach and-

Someone was tending to her back.

She could vaguely feel warm strokes from a wet cloth sliding systematically down her bare back. It was comforting, if not a little painful.

Painful?

As if the floodgates of her mind had been ripped open, the images of what happened flashed through her with astounding speed. Fighting the oinins, fighting Itachi, being hurt by Itachi. He had laid a hand on her. He had used the whip on her. Then the Sharingan had pulled her under again, into unconsciousness. She barely remembered the things that she had said to him, hardly remembered at all his replies to her stubbornness and foolish bravery. She remembered the Sharingan though, the flare of anger, the swirling crimson that announced his growing agitation.

Sakura stiffened against her will.

The steady hand that had been diligently cleaning her mildly stinging wounds paused at her frozen form. Belatedly Sakura wondered why her injuries hadn't hurt like she knew it was supposed to. She should be in agony by now, should feel as if there were liquid flames licking her raw, splayed open back. Floggings weren't matters to laugh at. The risk of infection was exceptionally high when compared to other methods of injury due to the large surface area a whip lash could easily cover. Not to mention the scarring…

Her mind was still moving sluggishly, lethargically processing all the details around her. A slow breeze washed through her senses, and she caught the scent of plants and trees. She heard a dull roar in the distance, and thought that she could smell the spray of water. She was near a waterfall maybe? Her eyes refused to open to confirm what her other senses told her, and it was perfectly alright with her. At the moment she did not want to open her eyes. To do so would mean that she would have to face reality. She would rather pretend that she was temporarily incapacitated, and maybe if she ignored the source of the powerful chakra beside her it would go away eventually.

Yeah. Right.

The kunoichi could not help but feel herself be steeped in sorrow. It was exhausting living life as a fugitive. It wasn't even a week and she was already feeling as worn out as a piece of raggedy cloth. It was so very tempting to give up and to wallow in her misery. Her circumstances were quite bleak, and she really didn't want to fight Itachi at all. Besides, no matter how much she strained and fought against him she would always be bound to him by her own promise. She really should quit antagonizing the enemy and act like a proper little captive.

Obedient, subservient, submissive.

He had proven very well to her that he could hurt her very badly whenever he so wished to, that her skills in combat paled in comparison to his. He had claimed her life as his now, and he could very well subject her to all sorts of agony, be it mental or physical, if he even had the slightest inclination to do so. And then again, he had the power to take her pain away, as witnessed by how he was now purposely using his chakra to temporarily anesthetize the burning agony for her. It was a display, she just knew, an elaborate display to her once again just how easily he could control her life. How easily he could make her miserable one moment, and relieved the next.

Yes, it would be extremely wise for her to stop fighting against the inevitable.

But yet, even as those thoughts crossed her mind, she did not relax her stiffened posture.

Nor did her heart stop aching at the thought that she was betraying her country. Friends. Family.

Sakura slowly opened her eyes at long last. Her head had been turned to the side facing away from _him_, and as light filtered into her darkened vision the first thing she saw was the small lake a few meters before her. A small waterfall bubbled in the background and all around them were thick forests. It was daytime, late morning perhaps, and the sunlight filled the entire clearing with lazy warmth.

Another breeze caressed her skin then, slowly alerting her to the fact that she was buck naked from waist up. A part of her had screeched inwardly, but other than that she made no reaction towards her nudity. She simply didn't have the strength to protest her nakedness at the moment, but at least she was lying on her stomach and adequately covered- sort of. Besides what would someone like Uchiha Itachi want with her naked body anyway?

Unbidden, Inner Sakura immediately presented to her the memory of the Uchiha forcing his kiss upon her, the feel of his cold, hard lips grinding cruelly against hers, his unrelenting, questing tongue prying her lips open and savagely filling her mouth with his essence. The sleek, muscular body trapping her frantic one under his own, the feel of his teeth as it sank brutally, unapologetically into her soft lip, demanding fiercely for dominance. She found herself trembling slightly at the aftermath of the intense memory.

"Heal yourself." He broke the peaceful silence at last, his soft, tenor tone blank and emotionless as usual. "I have replenished your chakra level."

She dearly wanted to ignore him, but his presence was strong and so overpowering and she doubted that she could do that. Her senses were attuned to his every motion, and even now she felt him casually withdraw the wet cloth from her back, heard the gentle sound of rinsing water, and once again felt the cool rag methodically being wiped over her wounds once more.

He was quietly tending to her, and that alone caused her instant suspicion. What was he trying to do? What was he planning? He had been teetering on the edge of insanity just the night before; what would he do now?

"…you will not be harmed any further."

Of course she didn't believe him. In fact, the air was thick with her disbelief. She still did not turn her head to look at him, and he still did not stop in the act of cleaning her wounds. It was the oddest situation that she had found herself in, and if it didn't involve him at all she would have threw her head back and laughed hysterically at the bizarreness of it all.

Of course she didn't laugh. That would have been suicidal. No, she grimaced instead, mentally asking the gods above why, _why_ it was always her who had to be the underdog.

"Kunoichi."

There wasn't a change of tone at all. There really wasn't. But yet somehow she could detect his growing impatience with her. Again. That was not good. But still she did not heed his order. Huh…his whip must have been laced with poison…either that or he had awakened a masochistic streak within her that she hadn't been aware of.

She would have burst into giggles at the thought too; had he not removed the buffer of his chakra against her screaming nerves. Her breath hitched, her eyelids dropped shut immediately, and her back arched as pain rushed back into her senses. Her entire back throbbed and pulsated with agony, and she knew immediately that the wounds were bad. Very bad. She started to shiver in natural counter reaction to the pain.

"Heal yourself now."

This time she gritted her teeth and forced herself to heed his placidly-issued demand. With just a simple summoning, chakra swam immediately to the surface of her body, warm and healing. She sighed softly at the comfort the energy brought to her wounded body, never for once lingering on the thought that those chakra had come from _him_.

She started the healing process.

She couldn't see her wounds of course, but with the aid of chakra she could 'feel' them. The thinner, less serious welts were the first to close, scab over and heal, then the more serious ones were next to go. It didn't take long, only a few minutes in fact; for the healing of oneself was a lot easier and faster than the healing of others, and within the blink of an eye her horribly marred back which would have taken a normal person at least a month to recover from was nearly flawless and perfect again. There was only one last injury left to tend to. It was that deepest welt, the one that extended from the side of her right shoulder to the curve of her opposite hip. The last five lashes had all hit this particular length, and she still remembered the raw pain. Sakura started to focus on closing it.

He didn't give her the chance, and suddenly, the chakra that she had felt brimming plentifully in her body was immediately sucked back into him by a single touch from himself, leaving a cold, empty void within her- and that long horrendous welt of wide, splayed flesh. She was suddenly weak and drained of chakra, and the pain of that deep lash swam back gleefully into her senses to plague her mercilessly once again.

She did not understand what he was trying to do.

Then she felt a cool fingertip slide up the smooth expense of her back, and she stiffened.

"Turn your head and look at me."

She refused, and felt acutely as his finger continued its solitary trek on her back, evoking trails of goose pimples on her milky skin as it did so.

"If you so insist on being so difficult…"

She couldn't muffle the raw scream of agony that forcibly ripped itself from her throat when she felt him dig that finger deep into the swollen, oozing wound on her back- and then slowly, cruelly drag it down the length of the welt. Wet emerald eyes flew wide open, and Sakura's body arched up beautifully as she instinctively reacted to this new form of torture.

She was strangely rigid and unable to relax her body even when he removed his offending digit from her back, her breathing harsh and irregular.

"Will you look at me now, kunoichi?"

It was worded as a question, but it was anything but. Maybe her defenses were still low from yesterday, maybe she was too weak to deny her body's need to escape from pain, but stiffly, she found herself obeying him again. Shame filled her soul, and she had to close her eyes to keep her tears from spilling.

"Kunoichi."

His voice was soft, but the tone was one of warning. Sakura didn't open her eyes. Tears leaked out from beneath thick lashes. She was so tired.

She looked defeated to him. Her face showed signs of strain, and her lips were flattened into a flat line. Saline tracks trickled down the side of her face and she was still shaking lightly from his treatment of her. She was probably scared to death of him, but yet she was not giving in. He cocked his head slightly, his curiosity for this utterly unfamiliar entity overwhelming.

_Loyalty has to be earned, not forced._

He admired her daring for spiting those words out at him. He could have killed her when she had said those insolent words to him, but he hadn't done so, merely knocked her out with his kekkei genkai instead. She was very spirited, he had learned that by now, and he also understood at the same time that he would get nowhere with her by employing brute force. She would sooner break and retreat deeply within herself than to give him what he wanted, and he didn't want that.

And because he didn't want her broken, certain concessions will have to be made.

"…Sakura."

She was so stunned by his address of her that her eyes flew open involuntarily to meet his. She drew in a deep breath at his overwhelming proximity. He was sitting but inches away from her, his lean body parallel to hers, one long leg casually bent at the knee whereas the other was stretched to its full length. His head was turned slightly to the side to regard her, and she was so busy looking warily at him that she didn't even notice that he had taken off his Akatsuki cloak, and was dressed only in the black mesh undershirt as well as casual black pants.

The always present Sharingan refused to let her gaze go, but that didn't mean that she could not move. Then she remembered her precariously unclothed situation and cursed inwardly. He seemed to notice her current predicament, for crimson eyes glinted with sardonic humor. Her agitation flared at his look of amusement, and emerald eyes narrowed slightly.

She was getting…feisty again.

He lifted his hand, and brushed his long fingers down her flesh languidly. She stiffened, but not from pleasure. Emerald orbs flashed with fear, and then she quickly pushed the crippling feeling away, hid it within the deepest recesses of herself. She was a brave little thing, he had to admit. He trailed his fingers closer to the long, raw, bleeding welt that he himself had inflicted on her, and ran his hand alongside that weeping wound idly, watching closely as she stiffened further.

Sakura started to squeeze her eyes shut, and mentally willed her body to stop shaking. She prepared herself for what was sure to come, and pressed her cheek hard onto the ground, a small grimace painted on her face.

To her surprise, he took his hand away from her back. She waited for a second or two, but when nothing happened, she opened her eyes cautiously. He was rinsing a piece of cloth in a small basin by his side, his gaze blank and detached once more. She hissed softly at the contact of water against her aggravated injury when he pressed the wet, pink-tinted cloth against her back. He didn't react to her agony, merely continued his ministrations as if he could not hear her harsh panting and desperate sobs for air.

If he was deriving any pleasure from her pain, he was hiding it very well. His stoic expression did not change, and he did not looked like he cared one way or another what happened to her.

"You will allow this wound to heal by itself." Itachi spoke quietly. "It will serve to remind you of your…folly."

Sakura jerked at his words. "I have done no wrong!" She hissed out for the first time since she had woken up, her voice hoarse and gritty.

He ignored her rage, and meticulously cleaned away the trails of blood that colored her back like a morbid painting. "And if I know that you have healed it with your abilities," He continued deliberately. "I will put another one in its place."

She gritted her teeth, but it was obvious that her mind had already been successfully conditioned by him, and the thought of having a whip used on her again made her body stiffen in reflex. He paused for a moment in his ministrations, and watched with interest as she bristled at his thinly veiled threat.

Sakura clenched her fists. If she wasn't feeling so weak and chakra-depleted she would have turned around and attacked him wildly, modesty be damned.

Itachi quietly contemplated the raw, split flesh that ran diagonal across the pale, smooth curve of her back. There was still bleeding, but it had since slowed down some and would stop soon. The welt was roughly half an inch wide, and Itachi had his own reasons behind keeping the wound unhealed. The pain would stop her from acting rashly for quite sometime, and she wouldn't be physically able to go against him now, and by the time she was allowed her freedom back he would make sure that she wouldn't want to anymore.

"This will scar…" He mused almost thoughtfully.

She was all but swelling up with anger at his nonchalant tone. It was almost amusing to watch.

"You are a fucking sadist, Uchiha!" She growled out furiously, suddenly feeling so vulnerable and alone. Scared.

He merely took away the cloth from her back, once again looking darkly amused by her burst of temper. The little kitten has claws. Small and dainty, and definitely non-lethal to him of course, but it was still amusing to see her waving them at him.

"I'm not a sadist," He contradicted her in a lazy, tenor drawl. "No more than you are. This unpleasant situation could have been easily averted with your willing cooperation."

Sakura hissed impotently.

"Go to hell!"

Thin, cruel lips quirked slightly, almost imperceptibly. It was obvious that she was feeling desperate, and desperate people were the most dangerous ones of all. His newest obsession certainly wore that look perfectly. It was amusing to see her lashing out like some wild, wounded creature driven to a corner.

"After you, of course."

Sakura was shaking with a mixture of anger and trepidation. She did not know what to make of Itachi's sudden change in mood. It was as if he was now in an almost indulgent and dangerously playful mindset, which didn't exactly bode well for her. It made her feel unbearably nervous. Damn it, was he bipolar or something? Itachi reminded Sakura of a huge jungle cat, playing idly with its petrified prey, but never with the intention to let it go anywhere beyond its large, dangerous paws. He was playing mind games with her again, she just knew it. He was confusing her and switching gears and moods so fast that there was definitely no hope for someone like her to escape unscathed from his clutches.

That didn't mean that she was willingly going to play his game though.

"Why are you doing this, Itachi?" Sakura demanded as fiercely as she could. She was so tired; her body ached with the pain and trauma that had been inflicted on her earlier, her wound was causing her quite some agony, and all she wanted was to be left alone. "I had promised to treat your eyes, didn't I? Why are you still antagonizing me for?"

Itachi looked at her impassively, revealing nothing he did not want her to know, much to her frustration.

"I do not owe you any explanations, but _you_ on the other hand…"

Dark Sharingan eyes lowered; became half-lidded and almost languid in appearance. The quiet arrogance of the Uchiha shone vividly through his relaxed, almost uncaring posture. Sakura bristled with futile agitation; once again he was subtly reminding her of their vast difference in terms of power and position. Where she was strung up and tensed, he remained unaffected and impervious to the possible threat that was her. It made her so angry she _shook_.

The look in his eyes told her that he knew exactly how she felt, and that he was amused by it. Amused!!

"Bastard…" Sakura breathed, emerald orbs glowing with helpless rage.

"No. I am no bastard." Itachi corrected her placidly, her less than favorable impression of him washing off his back like water.

"What I am, is the man who will command your absolute obedience. What I am, is the man who will command your absolute loyalty.

"What I am," Itachi drawled out softly; low, tenor voice rich with utter satisfaction. "Is your master."

* * *

_::tsuzuku::_


	10. Chapter 10

**Juxtaposition**

**Chapter 10**

Sakura spent the next week fighting the agonizing effects of infection.

Left to heal naturally on its own, it wasn't very long before the long, ugly welt on her back started to fester and ooze thick greenish-tinged pus. Her back became unbearably tender as the wound swelled up and soon became horribly inflamed. Sakura was almost glad that she could not actually see the horrible mess that was her back but the fact that there was nobody tending to the growing infection quickly put a stop to the foolish notion. The pain was excruciating, and the only thing that Sakura had the mind to be thankful for was the fact that Itachi had seemed to have decided for them to stay put in that deserted clearing until further notice. The kunoichi really didn't think that she was fit to travel around especially in her current condition.

The furious pink-haired kunoichi had also taken to blatantly ignoring the impassive Uchiha after hearing his utterly ridiculous comment about his being her rightful owner or something to that regards. It had honestly been her full intention to explode in a flurry of curses and denials after having been forced to listen to his odd claim and only the fact that she had been utterly, _utterly _wrung out had prevented her from doing any such thing. And so she had taken to ignoring the red-eyed Akatsuki member instead, not that said red-eyed bastard seemed to have notice at all, that _bastard_.

Sakura had also fully expected for him to ignore her and leave her to fend for herself; after all she could hardly attempt an escape in her awful condition and after the god awful whipping that he had administered to her she was really starting to expect the worst out of this merciless and cold-blooded Uchiha. Imagine her (inward) surprise when he nonchalantly blew past her negative expectations and did exactly the opposite.

To her increased nervousness, Itachi hardly strayed far and was always silently watchful of her, like a deadly predator unemotionally examining its injured prey. He hardly spoke to her of course, and she was more than happy to return his favor twofold. He also provided for her in terms of meals which she quickly rejected out of a loss of appetite from the nauseating pain and also from a sense of morbid satisfaction that her feeding was the one thing that he could not force her to do unwillingly. He didn't insist on pouring the dry ration down her throat of course, but she had seen from the particular flash in his crimson eyes that her act of willfulness had displeased him. In pain or no, Sakura had been utterly thrilled but her small, albeit somewhat petty, victory.

After the first day when she had awakened to him tending to her wounds, Sakura was careful never to allow him anywhere near her again. Itachi had attempted, of course, to clean the raw welt on her back on the early morning of the second day but Sakura had gathered every last vestige of her energy to gather the thin blanket that he had provided her around her naked upper torso and had forcibly dragged herself under an aged tree and backed herself defiantly against the large trunk, emerald eyes guarded and glazed with wariness. She knew that she was behaving like a trapped animal and although Itachi clearly had the ability to ignore her unspoken demand to be left alone the Uchiha did no such thing. He had merely watched her wordlessly for what seemed to her like a very long time, red eyes blank and unreadable as usual, before turning his back on her and returning to the center of the campsite, leaving her to quietly deal with her own misery for the rest of the day.

Sakura had once again, been tiredly smug over what she had perceived as yet another win against the Uchiha before she had allowed herself to fall into an uneasy slumber against the solitary tree at the very edge of the campsite.

By the early morning of the third day though, the pink-haired kunoichi no longer felt the childish pleasure nor did she have the luxury of staying asleep and away from this nightmare. Injured and thoroughly exhausted despite her uncomfortable rest Sakura snapped awake in the early hours of the morning feeling as though her back was on fire. Eyes glazed with a mixture of fatigue and pain it was all she could do to keep her attention on her surroundings and less on the personal hell that she was in all thanks to one Uchiha Itachi. The campsite was eerily silent in the predawn hours, and like all the past nights no fire have been started to ward away the chill of the night. A quick, bleary scan around the area yielded no sight of the Uchiha but Sakura was hardly fooled; he was definitely somewhere in here, just that she could not detect him at all.

Despite the heat and uncomfortable tightness that her back was feeling Sakura was suddenly besieged by an overwhelming wave of tremors. She broke out in cold sweat and started to tremble uncontrollably. When had the temperature dropped so suddenly? She was now feeling so cold that her bloodless fingers spasmed uselessly against the thin blanket covering her and it was all she could do to keep her teeth from chattering. Sure, it had been pretty chilly last night, but this was utterly ridiculous! What was wrong with Itachi? Why wasn't he setting up a fire or something? How did he manage to stay inured to such low temperatures anyway?

He didn't.

Slowly but surely, Sakura's mind cleared enough for her to realize what was going on and dazed emerald eyes widened with dismay and slight panic. Oh god. She had been so stupid.

The infection was setting in.

She had been stupid to the point of pure idiocy.

Sakura's mind was barely lucid enough for her to realize all the mistakes that she had made in the past few days. Instead of rejecting the food that Itachi had provided her, she should have devoured the rations like they were the last that she would ever be given. Her body had desperately needed the nutrition to fight off the onset of bacteria invasion and she had foolishly forsaken food for the fleeting pleasure of revenge. When Itachi had gone to her to tend to her back, she should have swallowed her pride and turned her head aside and not have rejected his efforts to help prevent the wound from festering any further.

Should have, could have. It was all too late. Once again, this was going to be nothing but her own fault.

Sniffling and trembling quietly as reality suddenly became all too great for her to bear, Sakura slumped slowly towards the ground, eyes closed in seeming defeat. The cool forest floor felt so good against her heated forehead that she was tempted to just stay there and never get up again. Her back throbbed with agony and she used all her willpower to block the pain out. It took all her efforts to just peel open her eyelids slightly but she couldn't see a thing. Feeling extremely exhausted, Sakura gave up and slipped her eyelids shut again. Her consciousness was fading fast, and there was nothing at all that she could do about it.

Damn, Sakura thought hazily as she tried to force her concentration together to keep from slipping completely away. Delirium was quickly setting in, and all she could think of at the moment were only two things: how Itachi was completely right; she was going to die under his hand after all, and how she was going to regret having missed Kakashi-sensei's ramen treat.

* * *

Itachi was sorely tempted to just let the idiot woman die. Had he been privy to Sakura's thoughts he would have agreed wholeheartedly with her; she really was foolish and this was completely a fault of her own making, to forgo her wellbeing just for the mere sake of pride. 

He had known of course, the moment she had jolted awake from her distressed slumber, her laborious breathing unbearably loud and uneven to his sensitive ears. Even in the dim light of the predawn hours it was impossible not to see how deathly pale she had become, her wide eyes dilated with illness and perspiration dotting her fine features. It didn't take much for him to discern that infection had finally set in; in fact he had been mildly surprised that she had managed to fight it for so long, judging from the fact that she had been so stubborn and resistant of his efforts to aid her.

Hn, he really should just let her die.

Itachi dropped noiselessly from the tree branch onto the ground before Sakura's unconscious form. She was half-curled up on her side, the thin blanket wrapped around her shoulders tightly. Her overwhelming fatigue and sickness were apparent to him; she never even woke from his proximity. Cold crimson eyes took in the wretched sight of the kunoichi with astounding clarity. Her once vibrant pink hair were already looking lank and dull even after only two days of sickness, the impish, heart-shaped face was streaked with dried tears and dirt from sleeping outdoors and worst still were the almost obscene splashes of red that marred her smooth, milky cheeks. The high color that resided on her face loudly announced the onset of what would definitely be a high fever, but yet she was trembling violently even before his very eyes.

Deidara was right; with nobody to depend on but herself, with no chakra to aid her in healing; Haruno Sakura of the Leaf would probably not live past this week.

Of course, the blonde Akatsuki had forgotten to include him into the equation.

True, Uchiha Itachi would be saving himself a lot of trouble by letting go of this troublesome little kunoichi and less than a week ago he would have done just that; but that time had long since passed. Now, there was one important factor that tied him completely to her, this oblivious pink-haired female who obviously had no idea whatsoever of all the exceptions that he had already made just for her alone, and it had succeeded in stopping him from just simply walking away.

A part of him had known from the very beginning that it would all lead to this in the end. People rarely fascinated him, but she had failed to conform like the rest of them and his interest had been irreversibly piqued. He was a master manipulator of people, trained from birth to read and predict a person's motives as easily as if they were his own but she had never done what he had expected of her, and this discrepancy had been more than enough for him to sit up and take full notice of her.

She truly was a rare abnormality-

And now she was his.

Haruno Sakura belonged to no one else but him now, and he always took good care of his possessions. Because he had never encountered someone quite like her before, he had not known how to handle her properly at first. Right now she might be a little damaged by his mistreatment but he would not let her stay broken for long, for if nothing else Uchiha Itachi was a quick learner, and he _never_ made the same mistake twice.

She was his newest possession, his newest toy; and he would not let her leave him so easily, nor would he let anything take her away.

Not even Death.

* * *

Sakura was having a very strange dream. 

It had started out well enough, she supposed. She was back in Konoha, visiting and hanging out with close friends and family alike. It was a wonderful dream. Sakura had never imagined just how used to nagging Kakashi-sensei she had become, pestering him time and again when he refused to at least read his perverted Icha Icha series in private. There was also the classic bopping the Naruto on the head whenever he became too obtuse and/or irritating, listening to Ino complain about Shikamaru's general laziness, as well as watching amusedly as Shizune chased frantically after a semi-inebriated Tsunade-shishou when the older blonde tried to skip out on her Hokage duties. It was exactly like she had never been forced away from Konoha, and Sakura had been contented to remain in this wonderful dreamscape of hers.

Then her black wolf appeared.

She was walking happily along the streets of her beloved village with Naruto and the gang when there was this huge ruckus at the main gates. Everyone had rushed to the village entrance to see what was going on, and the pink-haired kunoichi was shocked to see the huge black wolf that she had saved before standing right in front of Konoha, its hackles raised and razor-sharp fangs bared at the guards. Its back was arched low in a fierce attack stance and its ears were pinned flat to its skull in its aggression.

Sakura was dismayed to see that it was injured again, bleeding profusely from its haunches just like that very first time.

The Chuunin guards at the gates prepared to take the wild animal down, and Sakura watched with growing horror as they warily withdrew their weapons and took aim. Panicking, she started to scream for them to stop but all of a sudden it was as if a huge crowd had appeared from thin air, restricting her crazed movements towards those sentries. Sakura quickly tried to shove past the faceless people, and all her efforts to shout out a restraining order seemed worthless as the guards appeared not to hear her at all. By her side her friends tried to drag her back within the confines of the village wall, telling her that she didn't need to see this but all she could not understand at the moment was how they could just stand by and not do anything. Her wolf had not done anything wrong; why did they have to kill him?

"No!! Run!! Go!!" Sakura shrilled; eyes wide with anxiety and frantically trying to push past those people but to no avail. It was as if somebody had forcibly restrained her frenzied movements, no matter how hard she tried to free herself she couldn't seem to move. Near hysterical emerald met wary onyx as the wolf lifted its great head to look at her. Sakura willed with all her might for it to understand her desperation, for it to turn and run to safety but those dark eyes merely held her stare with implacable calm.

She wouldn't be able to reach him in time.

With horror filled eyes Sakura watched as a hail of shuriken and kunai approached the hapless animal with great speed.

"NO!" Wrenching free of her constraints, the kunoichi hurled herself forwards even though she knew that she would be too late. It just wasn't right; she thought miserably, her wolf wasn't supposed to die this way. It had never given up even to the very end; it shouldn't be hunted down like this. Please, let her reach it in time. Please god, please-

Sudden darkness.

Sakura was so taken aback by the sudden change of scenario that she stumbled and nearly fell. The kunoichi quickly recovered her bearings and whirled wildly around, wide eyes looking everywhere but seeing nothing. Where was Konoha? Where was the wolf that she had been so intent on saving again? There was now nothing but the harsh coat of utter blackness that fell over her like a suffocating blanket and it was so silent, so still, that a dropping pin would have sounded like an explosion to her ears.

Sakura frowned.

Just where on earth was she? Had she somehow wandered into a genjutsu trap?

Utterly bewildered, Sakura tentatively stretched out her hands and started feeling about for something, anything. She wasn't in the forest anymore, for the ground beneath her feet felt as smooth as marble and as she broke out in a sudden run, nothing hindered her progress.

"Hello? Is there anyone there?" Sakura called out haltingly. The oppressing silence was slowly getting to her, and she trembled mildly. "Please, is there no one?"

Still there was no answer but this time, _this time_, Sakura detected a slight change in the air. She straightened warily.

A chuckle whispered across her senses, and Sakura recognized that voice immediately.

It was her own.

Realization occurred to her almost immediately.

"I'm stuck in my own mind, aren't I?" Sakura muttered wryly, all the while wondering why her mind was dark and empty.

"This isn't your mind, not really. As much as I would have preferred this emptiness, our head isn't this airy and spacious, thanks to the memory packrat that you are." Her infamous inner persona replied her smartly, and Sakura could vaguely feel as Inner Sakura brushed past her. "You are currently delusional. Go back to wherever you come from."

And with a careless nudge, her alter ego shattered the never ending darkness, fragmenting it away piece by piece and sending Sakura's consciousness to yet another place.

* * *

This time, Sakura awoke to the gentle sounds of chirping birds and the muted murmur of flowing water. 

Emerald eyes snapped open and Sakura abruptly jackknifed from the nest of blankets that she had been curled up upon, her breathing anxious and ragged as she slowly recovered from the remnants of her odd dream. Mentally willing her heart to quit beating so frantically Sakura took a careful look around her surroundings. The image of the clearing surrounded by a ring of trees with a small waterfall bubbling in the center imprinted itself upon her mind; of course, she was back in Itachi's campsite.

The Uchiha in question did not appear to be anywhere in the clearing and Sakura relaxed visibly. The bewildered kunoichi was about to lie back into the comfort of her makeshift bedding and analyze her strange dream when a cold, wet something nudged her on the elbow from behind. Reflexes quickly kicking in, Sakura stiffened and all but jumped around to face the offender.

It was her wolf—again.

For a long moment Sakura could only _gawk_ at the sight of the regal animal standing so close to her. The monolithic canine was currently near enough for her to feel each and every of his quiet but strong exhalations. The stunned pink-haired medic-nin took in the proud stance the creature was in, the huge triangular black head and long snout hiding the discreet rows of sharp, deadly teeth, the deep, broad chest meant for enduring long distance traveling, and not to mention the gigantic paws that were each easily larger than her closed fist. Sitting thusly on the floor, Sakura was awed to find out that she was barely eye level with the wolf's chest. His coat was incredibly rich and sleek as a raven's feathers and best of all he was not injured at all, unlike his unfortunate alter ego in her dreamscape.

It hurt her head to even contemplate how it had been possible for this animal to track her all the way here. They must be at least a hundred miles away from that little traveler's inn!

Reluctant admiration filling her eyes, Sakura had no choice but to admit that this animal was indeed extraordinarily intelligent.

Tentatively lifting up a hand towards the wolf, Sakura watched with growing delight as it took a polite sniff of her fingers, onyx eyes silently watchful of her the entire time. Overjoyed by the animal's acceptance, she stretched her hand further and gently rubbed its snout. To her surprise—and pleasure, a deep rumble of appreciation escaped from its chest. The pink-haired kunoichi was so pleased that she promptly broke into a burst of delighted laughter.

"Well, I'm really glad that you are okay." Sakura started conversationally. The wolf cocked its head slightly at her as it listened to her light voice. The great animal slowly lowered its haunches and sat quietly beside Sakura. The pink-haired kunoichi was thrilled.

But she was not thrilled enough to forget her present circumstances.

A small frown furrowed her brow.

"You need to leave here, wolf." Sakura announced to the regal looking beast beside her. "I- I'm not alone and- and erm, it's quite dangerous for you to be here."

The animal merely continued to stare at her with calm eyes. Sakura quickly grew somewhat exasperated when he did not appear to understand her words. She lowered her hand from the wolf's snout.

"Listen," Sakura made her voice sound as urgent and as earnest as possible. Animals are supposed to react to distress, don't they? "You need to go now. I don't know how Itachi would respond to you but I really don't want to find out. He's a very dangerous individual, alright?"

A funny look crossed her face as Sakura warned the animal like it would understand her perfectly.

"Come to think of it, he's probably just like you, wolf." Disgruntled and slightly bitter, the pink-haired kunoichi continued. "The two of you could go hand in hand and hunt fluffy, innocent rabbits together."

Dark, onyx eyes continued to watch her steadily, and for a brief moment Sakura was disconcerted to see a flash of sardonic amusement in the wolf's almond-shaped eyes. Sakura paused and narrowed her eyes slightly at the animal, only continuing her well-meaning speech when she had ascertained for herself that she was not seeing things.

"Well, similar sadistic tendencies to make living things' lives hell aside, you really need to leave now, wolf. Shoo! Go on!" Sakura made a half-hearted motion to push at the animal but for all the good it did her—the wolf didn't even budge. It really wasn't a very surprising outcome; she was still a very sick individual after all, not to mention that she was at the moment severely lacking in the chakra department. Still, the pink-haired kunoichi was hardly the type to give up on the first try. Sakura leaned her entire weight against the immovable animal and to her growing dismay the wolf didn't even move an inch.

After what seemed like at least fifteen minutes of her very pathetic tries, the kunoichi wasn't panicking yet but she was rapidly getting there, not to mention the fact that she was also quickly tiring.

Panting something fierce, an exhausted Sakura slumped against the very warm body of the wolf. The animal smelt clean, and Sakura was surprised to detect the gentle whiff of rainwater.

"You don't have any doggy scent at all." The kunoichi remarked offhandedly, eyelids drooping despite her very best efforts to keep them open. "Why is that so?"

Imagine her surprise when the wolf opened its mouth and answered her, sounding remarkably like a certain Uchiha heir as it did so.

"That may be because I am not your wolf, Sakura."

Sakura was so stunned by the calm, all-too-quiet voice coming from the black animal that she quit resisting the long fingers of sleep.

And oddly enough, the last thing she saw before the darkness dragged her under was a sea of crimson.

_Had that been a dream again?_

* * *

The kunoichi was the busiest invalid he had ever seen. 

She was also probably the noisiest.

It had been nearly eighteen hours since she had fallen unconscious and there wasn't a full hour of which she had slept through in perfect silence. While the intense fever raged through her system, she had laugh, whimpered, cried, yelled, muttered what sounded like a jumble of gibberish to him, and had done god knows what else. She also could not seem to stay still and more than once he had been forced to restrain her frenzied movements before she could start to hurt herself even more than she already was.

Then there was the matter of her extremely odd personality.

Itachi really had no idea what to make of the situation when the abruptly fainted kunoichi suddenly lurched awake about fifteen minutes ago, struggling fiercely to get up and cussing up a storm as when she failed to do so. The usually unruffled Uchiha had been mildly surprised by all the especially uncouth words spilling out of her mouth when she was normally a lot more even-tempered and less likely to curse as aggressively as she had then. Unless the whip that he had used on her had been coated with a layer of mind-altering drugs that he had not been aware of, this sudden change of her temperament was more than a little startling.

It became especially so when he caught a closer glimpse of her aggravated features.

The slant of her eyes had been narrower than usual, an angry sneer was plastered on the normally pliant lips and her vibrant emerald eyes were bright with a strange mixture of malicious mischief and burning anger.

"_Uchiha_."

She spat out his surname with so much contempt that he was inwardly surprised. Not even when he was using the whip on her had she reacted with such outward hatred, and what's more was the fact that she had not shown any hostility whatsoever prior to her unconsciousness. It was very odd behavior, and Itachi had kept silent as she glared at him with pure loathing.

"…Who are you?"

For a brief moment, the glint of surprise that flashed across those angry emerald eyes was more than enough confirmation for him. Sharingan eyes started to spin.

Sakura smirked, seemingly uncaring of the danger.

"I am the person who would have no qualms in killing you, you son of a bitch." The pink-haired kunoichi was so openly vulgar that Itachi's eyes narrowed.

"You should act more like the one you are attempting to impersonate if you are hoping to succeed, outsider." The Akatsuki spoke tonelessly, but any experienced ninja would not be fooled by that bored and flat voice.

Sakura seemed to find his address of her hilarious, for despite her badly infected wound and rising temperature threw her head back and laughed uproariously. Itachi tensed imperceptibly, preparing for possible combat.

"Outsider, huh?" the person who was clearly not Sakura chortled loudly, the deathly pale and perspiring face totally at odds with her jovial mood. Then those sharp, cynical emerald eyes snapped to his, the scoffing and sarcastic gaze such an unfamiliar look on her that he was tempted to personally hunt down the one who was degrading her body this way.

But her next words promptly stopped him from any further consideration of any such thing.

"I know Sakura better than anyone else on this earth, and I sure as bloody hell do not need to _impersonate_ her." Sakura hissed, eyes flashing and lips pulled back in a silent snarl. Then just as quickly, she calmed down, the anger still there but no longer as volatile as before. "You are very lucky though, Uchiha, for she would never allow me to kill you. She would sooner force me back in than to risk that possibility, so you are quite safe."

Crimson eyes sharpened at the implications of what she had just said.

"Who are you?" Itachi asked again, his tone slow and calculated.

Sakura gave a malicious grin.

"Aren't you supposed to be the prodigy among prodigies? Why don't you tell me?"

The Uchiha sent her a long, measured look before deciding to reply her.

"You aren't sent here to spy, for you are hardly acting in proper character of my captive. You aren't an oinin sent here to assassinate me, for the current state of my captive is too weak to do any damage, let alone attempt an assassination. You speak of her familiarly, and you indicate yourself as such. There is a distinct possibility that you may be from Konoha, sent here to rescue her but you aren't attempting to do so. Of course, that may be because my captive is currently physically incapable of escape but there is yet another possibility."

Sakura looked intrigued—and sardonically amused by his calm and analytical deduction. "And that is?" She drawled almost nonchalantly but sharp Sharingan eyes did not miss the way her hands were trembling fiercely with growing fatigue.

"There is a theory," Itachi started deliberately. "That when one is under extreme duress and at the same time suffering from extreme physical limitations, it is entirely possible for one to lose psychological control. That loss of control would be normally termed as a nervous breakdown."

Sakura looked coolly at Itachi.

"So, in less pretty words, are you suggesting that I am crazy?"

The Uchiha did not look amused by her tart reply.

"No." The S-class missing-nin stated as calmly as he had began. Unfortunately for her, this current Sakura lacked the ability to incite him to lose control like the original one did, and that glaring factor had convinced him more than ever that his suspicion was correct. "You are one of the lucky few, aren't you? You can never suffer from any psychological damage because there will always be a backup system to rely upon when the original is unavailable."

As expected, Sakura was immediately furious.

"I'm not a backup!! Take that back, you fucking clan-murdering Uchiha filth!" Emerald eyes flashed with deep hatred as Sakura tried to attack Itachi only to realize that she could not do so because she could hardly move. Besides, Itachi was not yet done.

"What an interesting discovery." The Akatsuki mused almost absentmindedly. "That you actually have a split personality. You must be the passive one, and judging from your earlier sentences, are probably allowed true freedom only in Sakura's mind."

Inner Sakura hissed.

"I'm _not_ the passive one!" The angry kunoichi denied with fierce vehemence. "Outer Sakura's then the passive one! She always restrains herself and never listens to her instincts! That's why she's in this much trouble now! We are both going to die if she keeps herself this way!"

Itachi's brow lifted.

"Leave her alone."

Like her other self, Inner Sakura was just as quick to fire up and her temper clearly showed.

"I don't need _you_ to tell me what to do!" The angered female growled menacingly, eyes feverish bright with sickness and increasing agitation. "You were the one who caused us to be this way; I will definitely not listen to anything you say!"

"Not even when you know that I'm right?" Itachi continued ruthlessly before Inner Sakura could say anything else. "She desperately needs all the energy in her body to fight off the infection and your presence is quickly depleting away what's left of that minute supply."

Inner Sakura hesitated as his words washed across her mind. It was true; Sakura was desperately trying to fight her delirium now and her forcing her body this way wasn't helping the least.

Still, Inner Sakura was reluctant.

"Why are you so concerned about us anyway?"

Emotionless eyes stared back at her, and even the fierce Inner Sakura was disconcerted by the cold crimson pits of sheer emptiness.

"I won't ask again. Return to where you come from…Inner Sakura, or you will meet Tsukuyomi."

Emerald eyes flashed with impotent anger, and then Sakura's alter ego barked out a harsh laughter.

"Very well." Inner Sakura rasped, not entirely happy but not exactly left with a choice either. "I will leave, Uchiha-teme. But come up with a better sounding threat next time; we both know that your prized jutsu have no effect on us."

Before Itachi could react to that, Sakura's eyes rolled back and the fatigued kunoichi promptly slumped back onto the nest of blankets.

Almost immediately, her eyelids opened slowly to reveal twin orbs of exhausted emerald. Her pupils were dull and glazed with sickness, but the way her eyes looked larger, more doe-like compared to the earlier version, easily assured him that Sakura was back in control again.

Then she smiled at him tiredly, and he knew for sure that she was probably confused and somewhat delusional.

"Well, I'm really glad that you are okay." The pink-haired kunoichi whispered shyly as she struggled to get up once again, much to the growing irritation of her captor. Between the busy actions of her alter ego and that of herself it was going to take a miracle for her to heal if her body kept getting strained like this.

"Stop moving and rest." Itachi commanded quietly but Sakura did not seem to hear him at all. She started to frown.

"You need to leave here, wolf." The dazed kunoichi announced abruptly to the mildly nonplussed Akatsuki member. "I- I'm not alone and- and erm, it's quite dangerous for you to be here."

Somehow he wasn't surprised that she had mistaken him for her pet wolf again, as annoying as her slight had been. For the next ten minutes or so, Itachi was forced to listen as she tried diligently to warn him away from himself. It would have been almost amusing if he wasn't part of this extremely strange situation, especially when she had disgruntledly listed comparisons between himself and the large canine that she had rescued days ago.

Then as he had expected, exhaustion gradually took its toll on the sick female and eventually she gave up the fight, slumping bonelessly against him, who had been seated beside her the entire time as she muttered away in a fit of delirium.

The impassive Uchiha stared down at the petite kunoichi who had pressed herself against him, her breaths coming in soft pants as her slender ribcage moved rhythmically in time with her uneven respiration. He stiffened imperceptibly when she turned her head into his shoulder and took a deep breath, tentatively nudging her nose against his mesh-shirt.

"You don't have any doggy scent at all." The kunoichi slurred drowsily, quickly losing the fight to stay awake as she did so. "Why is that so?"

Crimson eyes glinted with dark amusement. She really was the most exasperating individual whom he had ever met, not to mention one of the most unexpected finds that he had stumbled across. That was probably the reason why he had claimed this contradicting bundle of never ending trouble as one of his own.

The Uchiha easily lifted Sakura's sagging head from his shoulder and met her sickness-glazed eyes with his.

"That may be because I am not your wolf, Sakura." He answered her question in a quiet voice. "Rest."

The way her eyes widened quickly told him that she recognized his voice despite her delirium, but he didn't give her any time to react to him. Making sure that she was wholly focused on him, crimson Sharingan dragged her under, forcing upon her a deep, dreamless slumber. Itachi watched calmly as her eyes closed and her body fell slack against him once again. The sleep that he had made her fall into would ward away her fevered dreams, thus ensuring a faster healing.

The powerful missing-nin proceeded to situate her back within the nest of blankets that she had been curled up in previously; a brief touch to her forehead had revealed that her temperature was still dangerously high and she would have to sweat out the fever that was rampaging through her system. However Sakura jerked and whimpered when he maneuvered her on her back, and almost detachedly he rolled the sick female onto her stomach, slowly peeling back the thin blanket that she had wrapped tightly around herself to look at her wound.

As expected, without proper medical care the long welt was now streaked an angry red and painfully swollen with unsightly infection-fighting fluids. Any lesser man would have cursed fluently and panicked at the pitiful sight, but Itachi barely flinched. The raven-haired Uchiha calmly turned to his extensive memory bank, his excellent photographic memory rapidly sifting through all the thick medical tomes that he had read before.

The solution surfaced soon enough, and although it wasn't exactly a painless procedure it was by far the most effective, which fit the Uchiha's purpose exactly. The ends justify the means, after all.

Itachi stared at the quietly whimpering kunoichi for a long time. Her face was pale despite her raging fever, and droplets of perspiration dotted her forehead and temples. Her lips were almost white and pinched with fatigue and pain and she was shaking badly despite the deep sleep that he had forced upon her.

She was definitely going to need that medical procedure in order to survive this, and although he had neither the suitable resource nor the experience to perform it here in this small grassy clearing by the gently flowing stream, there was someone nearby who could. Of course it was entirely possible that the archaic method may very well kill her but the Uchiha was realistic enough to comprehend that not doing anything would definitely result in her death. The Akatsuki easily made the split second decision to proceed. After all, if the kunoichi perished this easily then it would clearly show that she wasn't as strong as he had been led to believe, and it wouldn't have been too much of a loss to lose her. And if she survived, then there would be nothing to worry about and he would be given further proof on just how enduring she was. Either way, it was a win-win situation the way he saw it.

It really was a good thing that said kunoichi in question was out cold at the moment and not privy to his brilliant deductions.

* * *

_::tsuzuku::_


End file.
